Avoid the crowds with VIP access

POPE Francis, the so-called rock-star leader of the Catholic Church, appears to have captivated Italy with his genuine warmth and charm.

The Pope celebrates mass inside the Sistine Chapel. Picture: AP

POPE Francis, the so-called rock-star leader of the Catholic Church, appears to have captivated Italy with his genuine warmth and charm. In Rome, tourist numbers to the Vatican had dropped off during the more austere reign of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, but now as the chill of the global financial crisis begins to thaw, visitor numbers are back to the 50,000-a-day of the era of John Paul II.

Our Vatican visit is on a cool autumn morning and even solid overnight rain hasn’t dampened the spirits of those who have been queuing patiently for hours. Many are wearing T-shirts, badges and bags emblazoned with Francis’s image, and hawkers are doing brisk trade selling a dazzling variety of papal souvenirs.

As we glide past the crowds, tour guide Izzy dryly notes that true Catholic devotion starts now. “It takes the patience of a saint to visit the Vatican,” she says. But as part of Insight Vacations’ VIP access program, available on many of its Europe departures, our group has been granted exclusive entry to areas of the Vatican not usually open to the public; we are permitted to arrive at 8am — an hour earlier than general admission time — and with no need to queue.

We wander pristine gardens — no stepping on the manicured lawns, of course — with just a smattering of other tourists lucky enough to get this VIP treatment on our way to climb the Bramante staircase. Designed in 1512 for Pope Julius II by Donato Bramante, it is a double-helix staircase — a remarkable architectural feat for the time — that allows people to ascend without seeing those descending.

The stonework and colonnades are precisely placed in perfect symmetry. This creates a gently winding spiral path that makes climbing feel like a stroll. At the top we are rewarded with sweeping 360-degree panoramas of Rome.

“Brace yourself,’’ Izzy warns, as we reluctantly leave the staircase. “We are about to join the main museums.” As we enter the Gallery of Maps, we are engulfed by hordes of visitors peering at large frescoes of glorious hand-painted charts that show the entirety of the Italian peninsula in the late 1500s.

Room after gilded room, the Vatican museums house a staggering array of art and treasures collected over centuries and then, of course, there’s the Sistine Chapel, an oasis where talking is strictly forbidden and tourist numbers, whether VIPs or not, are closely controlled.