As the big bronze doors of the Vatican slammed behind our shoulders, our small group fell silent. We were about 100 people in the Vatican lobby made up of three groups of 30 people who were told, having passed through security, we will not meet again as we sped towards our different directions. I had chosen for us in the next two hours the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. I thought that 45 minutes in the presence of Raphael, his Church Fathers, philosophers and Poets, Popes and Saints and the splendid 16-century Vatican inhabitants would hardly be enough; while for the Cappella Magna, the real name for the Sistine, 'a life is not enough'.

And our journey started, through the lonely round staircase, up the windows on the Cortile del Belvedere, along the corridors of the maps and the candelabra, through the sarcophagi of Helena and Costanza, mother and daughter of Emperor Costantine, buried in those red porhyri beds, smooth, vast, imperial. It started feeling very strange to move on, so few, through those famous museum rooms, so crowded by day, so silent in the middle of the evening: with respect we all started whispering!

And suddenly there we were through the Papal apartments, with frescoes all over the walls of fierce battles outside Rome, by sea and land when Popes and Gauls met and stood their ground.

The guards started leading us again through the dark corridors and having descended some steps and passed under a small side door, we suddenly were through the Cappella Magna, or la Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) -- the Pope's private chapel. I was ready to start describing the magnificent 15th-century frescoes around the walls by the Umbrian and Florentine School, by Perugino and Botticelli and Ghirlandaio, and then all of our group looked up, one could not help it. And we almost froze.

There Michelangelo's forms were unfolding on that magical suspended ceiling, with an energy and vitality almost unsurpassed by anything we had seen. I have been in the Sistine many times, but never without people all around and this time, with so few people, I finally understood. The Sistine was painted by Michelangelo for a small crowd of particularly fortunate people, by those people that deserving or undeserving are meant to have a special communication with God. A small and unique crowd, the Cappella Pontificia, and in that silence I felt that our whispers were brought by Michelangelo straight to God, as he hovered above us, moving from one act of creation to the next. I explained what I could for what seemed a long time, perhaps half an hour but Michelangelo was doing my job, he was announcing loud and clear the most beautiful story of creation ever told.

We looked at the stories around the walls by the earlier painters and the elegance of their proportions and united voice in recounting the life of Moses and Jesus were not missed. We looked at the Universal Judgment and again with Michelangelo we tried to find a little place, by God, not too far in the right corner, perhaps by Michelangelo where his image stays suspended and then we could not say anymore. We all set on the benches and looked up for the remaining time in silence, suspended.

Note from Viator:
This is from Rosa M. L., director of the Accademia Club and one of the guides who is conducting Viator's exclusive tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel. We asked Rosa for her own review of the tour, as she has kindly obliged.

Reviewed by: Rosa M, Italy, April 2008

The guide was very good.

Reviewed by: Bertil E, Sweden, April 2008

The nighttime tour of the Vatican was an outstanding experience, worth every penny we paid. The tour director was so knowledgeable and interested in her subject. She truly loved art history and made the viewing of the Sistine Chapel very special. All the arrangements went smoothly and we enjoyed it very much. I can't think of anything that could make the visit better except more time to see the Vatican treasures in the other rooms!

Reviewed by: Mary M, United States, November 2007

Our private tour through the Sistine Chapel was definitely the highlight of our trip to Italy. When we first went by the Vatican, the lines waiting to get in were literally almost a mile long. There were fewer than 20 of us on this tour and the guide was marvelous. She knew so much about the history and the art itself that I never would have known. And the guide was so involved in the subject matter, she made it a very emotional experience for all of us. We ended up spending about an hour in the Sistine Chapel itself which never could have happened without the tour. I would definitely do this again. It's well worth the money.

Reviewed by: Robert Z, United States, October 2007