sistine ceiling, rome: unlocking the secrets of the … mail_24_october...inside, our guide rachel...

Unlocking the secrets of The Vatican on aprivate tour of Michelangelo's SistineCeilingBy Sebastian Lander

PUBLISHED: 12:30 GMT, 24 October 2012 | UPDATED: 13:50 GMT, 2 November 2012

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You don’t need to be the Pope to enjoy a private audience with the world’s most famous ceiling.

Closing time in the Sistine Chapel and the noisy crowds are gone. Hush descends. We have theplace to ourselves. Craning up at Michelangelo’s luminous frescoes, my neck begins to ache. Butit’s appropriate to suffer for the fiery artist’s labours.

The Renaissance superstar spent four hard years at work before finishing his masterpiece 500years ago this month.

Sistine Ceiling, Rome: Unlocking the secrets of the Vatican ... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2222311/Sistine-Cei...

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Full of mystery: A view of Rome looking towards St Peter's Basilica and The Vatican

Admiring his grand creations in the company of just a handful of visitors sets a reverential tone.

The private view is the culmination of a new tour of the Vatican Museums that promises to (literally)unlock its secrets. Help navigating through this vast collection of sculpture, art and artifacts is treatenough - it is hard to know where to begin.

Except, of course, at the thick-walled entrance on the Viale Vaticano, where we are immediatelywhisked past the waiting lines.

Luminous: A detail of Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling, finished 500 years ago this month

Inside, our guide Rachel points out various curiosities, up to the colossal bronze pinecone thatonce stood near the equally mighty Pantheon and down to poor Hanno, the beloved white petelephant of Pope Leo X, buried here.

As we enter one room, Rachel’s voice drops. She gives the guard a nod. A gate is unlocked withsome ceremony and a very large bunch of keys. We are ushered through.

This is the first of the ‘secret rooms’, where the Bramante Staircase, named after the famousarchitect, ascends in a whirl of columns and visitors are rewarded with a sweeping view of Rome’sskyline at the top.


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All hail: The Apollo Belvedere (left) was one of the inspirations for the ceiling of thegolden chapel (right)

Then it’s back to the masses and off to the Octagonal Courtyard, which houses the ApolloBelvedere statue that so enraptured Michelangelo.

Without a guide, you might not notice the block of marble where the artist sat to study aestheticApollo, nor the spot of graffiti marking his initials ‘MB’ in the stone.

In another room a red rope is drawn back theatrically and we are led to the cosy Cabinet of Masks,where a red marble faun leers.

SPEND A REGAL NIGHT IN THE HISTORIC HEART OF ROME


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The elegant Via Veneto was the backdrop for Fellini’s 1960 film classic La Dolce Vita.

For the good life, look no further than the Regina Hotel Baglioni.

Reigning supreme on this starry strip, the building is a short well-heeled trot to some of Rome’smost famous sights, including the Trevi Fountain, where actress Anita Ekberg made waterymischief with male viewers’ imaginations in the cult movie.

The hotel’s royal pretensions - Queen Margherita of Savoy stayed here while her palace across theroad, now the American Embassy, was being renovated – are still clearly a professionalbenchmark.

The interiors that greet today’s visitor – sweeping marble floors, polished, soaring columns and artdeco-style rooms – are suitably opulent for the Eternal City.

But the grand scale doesn’t detract from the personal touch.

We enjoyed dinner in the Brunello Restaurant. Dishes such as pork fillet in a crust of black sesameseeds plus cinnamon with dates and home-made tortelli filled with Roman-style artichokes arethose worthy of a monarch’s table.

There’s even a personalised selection of salts - offered by a waiter with film star panache. Nowthat’s attention to detail.

The centerpiece of the room is an exquisitely preserved Roman mosaic. Tanya, from Miami, isentranced. ‘It’s incredible to think that something so intricate could be rolled up and moved to thisprivate room, yet remain so beautifully intact,’ she says.

We pass through rooms full to the architraved brim with sculptures, paintings, tapestries.

My favourite object is the gigantic purple stone basin retrieved from the ruins of Nero’s extravagantgolden palace.


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Imperial hot tub: Nero's purple bath once graced his extravagantly opulent Golden House

This is an imperial hot tub to outshine the gaudiest footballer’s home. It wouldn’t even fit throughthe door of my flat. Nevermind.

On to the quiet of the Niccoline Chapel, not usually seen by visitors.

It’s easy to imagine the starched-stiff robes of the Pope brushing past the richly decorated walls ofthis illuminating room, which still bear the burn marks sustained during the sack of Rome in 1527.


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The master: Michelangelo (bottom, middle) is pictured in Raphael's sweeping fresco, theSchool of Athens

The chapel contains the only surviving work in the city by early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico.

In the Room of the Signature, Raphael’s School of Athens fresco adorns one wall, which featuresMichelangelo, sitting on a step looking sullen in his boots. I know how he feels.

After three hours of treasure hunting in the sticky Rome heat, I need a drink.

Duly restored, my mind full of giant baths and creepy masks, I begin to wonder just how manysecrets this extraordinary city must have behind firmly locked doors.

Travel FactsAbercrombie & Kent (0845 485 1143, www.abercrombiekent.co.uk) offers three nights’ B&B in asuperior room at Regina Hotel Baglioni, Rome, from £599pp, including flights and transfers. Price isbased on two adults sharing. More on Baglioni Hotels at www.baglionihotels.com or call 0039 (0)2773331.

Dark Rome Tours & Walks offers a VIP Tour of the Vatican’s ‘Secret Rooms’ and private SistineChapel access from £180pp (00353 16127097, www.darkrome.com). More on the Vatican Museums atmv.vatican.va.

Book your travel CALL 0808 230 1002

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