A Fresh Perspective on Travel Every Day
You’d be wrong to assume that, should you find yourself in the once-in-a-lifetime position of gaining access to the Vatican Museums at 6 am — a full three hours before the doors open to the public — there would be any pomp and circumstance when the main entrance door along Rome’s Viale Vaticano swings open.
After a bit of fumbling with the key by flashlight, I managed to open the iron gate, yet still found myself standing in pure darkness. My guide went ahead as I slowed my step, befuddled by where I was. From somewhere in the distance, he flipped the switch and I gasped. I was surrounded by the Vatican’s Gallery of Maps, an impressively ornate room with 40 large maps of Italy — some measuring up to 15 by 16 feet — dating back to 1582.