Papal Audience and other Rome, Italy Things to Do Tips

Every Wednesday (except during the summer), the Pope holds a General Audience at the Audience Hall at St. Peter's Basilica. The Audience goes basically like this:

The Pope enters the Hall and greets everyone, then there's a small prayer and he sits down and reads a verse of the Bible, which will be translated into several languages, depending on the groups present that day. In my case, what was read was John 1:1 (I think), and was translated into English, French, Spanish, German and I believe Russian.

After the verse, His Holiness reads a sermon in Italian, then there's a few representatives from the languages mentioned above who call the groups. Some groups sing a little song for the audience and then part of the sermon is read by His Holiness in the language. In total, the Audience I attended was about 1.5 hours long.

Remember to dress appropriately to visit a holy place. One thing I didn't know is that you can enter the Hall with a bottle of water (which you probably might need).

Finally, the Audience ends with the Papal blessing, which is "Our Father" in Latin. The text is found behind the ticket you got for the Audience.

***How to get a FREE ticket: download a form, fill it in with the required information and send a fax to Prefettura della Casa Pontificia (details on the link below). Exactly a week after I did this, I got a letter saying that I got 2 tickets for the Audience held the Wednesday I was in Rome. When going to pick up the tickets, you go through a security check and only ONE person in your group can go to the ticket office to pick them up.

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Phone: Fax: +39 06 6988 5863
Address: St. Peter's Basilica
Directions: Ticket pickup: on the right side of St. Peter's square, 3rd door to the right entering the Bronze Door. Audience Hall: on the left side of St. Peter's square, and be prepared for another security check there.
Website: www.vatican.va/various/prefettura/index_en.html

The second part of my Vatican City day was spent visiting the excavations under St. Peter's. The tour takes about 1 hour and the knowledgeable guides will show you some of the tombs and mausoleums found as well as give you some information about the Basilica that maybe you didn't know.

For instance, we learned that the Basilica is facing west as opposed to be facing east, which was the "norm" when constructing Catholic churches and that is because the Basilica was built on the Vatican Hills and to be facing east they would have to dig into the Hills, so it was easier to build the way it is built now.

We also saw a little bit of St. Peter's tomb through a glass, and our tour finished by showing us John Paul II's tomb and the Confessional of St. Peter.

Remember to dress appropriately to visit a holy place. NO pictures are allowed during the tour.

***How to get a ticket (as of Dec 2008, 10€): e-mail or fax the Scavi office (details below) with the required information. IF they can grant you a tour during the dates you'll be attending Rome, then they answer you with a proposed date and time. You confirm the visit by paying within 10 days of receiving the e-mail and then after a few days you will receive the receipt that you take to the Scavi office to claim your tickets. You will be let in 10 minutes before the appointment. Only 200 people are allowed to do the tour daily but the groups are about 12 people big.

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Phone: Fax: +39 06 6987 3017
Address: St. Peter's Basilica
Directions: Ticket pickup: on the left side of St. Peter's square, there's a gate with 2 Swiss Guards in it. They will tell you how to go to the Scavi office.
Website: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html
Other Contact: scavi@fsp.va

This is one of the must visit sights in Rome. Sit down in one of the steps and enjoy watching the people, the traffic and the scenery.

At the top of the steps you will find the church Trinita dei Monti and at the end the Fontana della Barcaccia.

I visited Rome the week before Christmas, so they had this gorgeous tree with lights that changed color. The tree was sponsored by the embassy of Belize and was called "The Light to Freedom", in honor to kidnapped victims.

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Address: Piazza di Spagna
Directions: Metro: Spagna.

Another of the popular sights in Rome. I thought it was gonna be more crowded but it wasn't, and it was nice not to have to "fight" your way with others to be able to take a good picture of it or you in front of it ;)

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Address: Fontana di Trevi
Directions: Metro: Barberini.

The Colosseum is probably the Roman equivalent to Paris' Eiffel Tower or London's Tower Bridge. We all know the history and what it was built for, so there's no need for me to go on with that. The Colosseum, the Palatine Hills and Forum Romanum are covered by the same ticket, which as of Dec 2008 costs about 13€ and is good for 2 days. This combo is also included in the Roma Pass and the Archaeologica Card.

We visited the Colosseum after 10am and didn't find a lot of people, so probably you want to do that if you don't want to stand in line for a long time.

Upon arrival you'll probably be approached by tour guides offering you their services, but if you say "no" they'll leave you alone. Same goes for the gladiators and other sellers.

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Address: Piazza del Colosseo
Directions: Metro: Colosseo.
Website: www.pierreci.it

Mamertine prison is a cistern with 2 levels built around 640BC, the lower level being used as a prison. There's a passage ending at Cloaca Maxima that was used to depose of corpses.

According to tradition, Saints Peter and Paul were imprisoned and kept in chains on a column (see picture #4), the first before he became a martyr. It is said that St. Peter baptized prisoners here using water that miraculously came out on the same spot. In the prison you will find an altar with an upside down cross, a symbol of how Peter was crucified because he didn't think he was worthy of being crucified like Jesus.

There's no entrance fee for the prison but there's a donation box.

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Address: Clivo Argentario 1
Directions: Right below San Giuseppe dei Falegnami church.

You can visit St. Peter's dome by going up the stairs or taking an elevator, for very beautiful views of Rome and the Vatican City. Note that there's 320 steps after taking the elevator. The last stair flight was frightening to me because it was a spiral stair and the steps were a little uncomfortable for me when I saw that I didn't have space for my whole feet, and I felt that if I moved a little to the right I would fall down because there wasn't anything firm to hold but a thick rope. When I came out, Mr. Sweden said that my whole face was tomato red lol, talk about an adrenaline rush.

Anyway, the day we went to the top was sunny and the sky was clear so the views were marvelous.

As of Dec 2008, the round trip ticket with the elevator costs 7€.

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Address: St. Peter's Basilica