Ristorante "Da Paolo" Viale Vaticano, 104

This section of the Vatican Museums was founded by Pope Clement XIV and later amplified by his successor Pius VI. The collection includes acquisitions of countless statues from other collectors, rich Italian families and antiques stores. This sections’ creation aimed to preserve and to display the Greek-Roman works, especially statues, gathered by the Popes throughout several centuries. The name of this section has been given after the two founders.

The Laocoön is one of the main attractions inside the Pio Clementino Museum. It’s believed that the statue was created between the 2^nd century BC and 1^st century DC. The massive statue was found at the beginning of the 16^th century on Colle Oppio, not far away from the Colosseum. Pope Julius II, an art lover and the one who inaugurated the Sistine Chapel, purchased immediately this statue, which together with Apollo del Belvedere, was one of the two main artworks of the Vatican Museums just immediately after their foundation.

The Gallery of Candelabra is one of the three Galleries leading toward the Sistine Chapel. An impressive collection of sculptures from all over the Roman Empire will leave you breathless. Decorated ceilings and marble floors create a magic atmosphere surrounded by ancient statues.

The hall of the Gallery of Maps includes one of the biggest collections of painted maps in The World. Created at the end of the 16^th century the maps represent all the Italian regions with some peculiarities related to those times.

The artworks that you will be able to admire here were originally created for the Sistine Chapel. The original pictures were created by Raffaello with the intention to decorate the private chapel of the Pope. The tapestries were created by the hands of the best artisans of those times, the Flemish tapestry masters in Bruxelles.

The four rooms within the Raphael Rooms formerly were used as Pope Julius’ II apartment. They were commissioned by the Pope, who was known as an art lover, to Raphael, who wasn’t very well known among the artists of those times and who was only 25 years old. Among other important works that Raphael leaves in this section, there are the School of Athens and the Fire in Borgo. The four rooms bring mainly the names of the artworks within each room: The room of Constantine, the Room of Heliodorus, the Room of the Segnatura and the Room of the Fire in the Borgo.

Within the worldwide known Sistine Chapel with the two masterpieces by Michelangelo: the Creation and the Last Judgement. You will discover the extraordinary technique Michelangelo used to paint the magnificent vault and how and why he had decided, thirty years later, to paint the Last Judgement.

The biggest church in the World with the Bernini’s Altar (St. Peter’s Baldachin), with Michelangelo’s Pietà and the magnificent Cupola that has a legacy of Raffaello, Michelangelo, Bramante and many other notable artists’ work [skip the line only, no guide included].