Vatican City - St. Peter's, the Museums and Borgo ברומא

In a nutshell: Vatican City is the world's smallest state, a walled enclave inside Rome created in 1929 and heir to the Renaissance Papal States, yet it packs more masterpieces per hectare than anywhere else on earth. The heart of any visit is St Peter's Basilica: Bernini's sweeping piazza, Michelangelo's dome and Pietà, the bronze baldachin and the tombs of the popes in the grottoes below. Next door, the Vatican Museums unroll 7 km of galleries - antique sculpture, the Raphael Rooms, the Gallery of Maps - before ending at the Sistine Chapel, whose ceiling and Last Judgment rank among the most famous paintings ever made; the same chapter covers the Vatican Gardens and the ancient necropolis beneath the hill. Over the river, Borgo and Prati gather the practical side of the district: Castel Sant'Angelo with its secret passage to the Vatican, the trattorias, wine bars and churches of the two rioni, and the answers on dress codes, queues and how to see the pope. The rest of Rome is near at hand: ancient Rome, the historic centre, the Tridente and Trastevere all sit within easy reach.

Highlights of the Vatican, Borgo & Prati

• ✦St Peter's Basilica - perhaps Rome's supreme church, its chapels brimming with art, crowned by Michelangelo's dome and sheltering the popes' tombs below.
• ✦Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo's frescoes, above all the Last Judgment, in the chapel that hosts the Conclave.
• ✦St Peter's Square - one of Rome's grandest open spaces, wrapped in Bernini's colonnades.
• ✦Vatican Museums - antique sculpture, precious canvases and frescoes across 7 km of rooms.
• ✦Castel Sant'Angelo - a Roman tomb reborn as papal stronghold and jail, linked to the Vatican by a hidden corridor.
• ✦Borgo and Prati - the workaday neighbourhoods around the Vatican, perfect for a quiet meal or a stroll away from the crowds.

Getting around

• ✦Walking - nothing beats Shanks's pony around the Vatican. From central Rome the trip is a ramble of barely an hour, provided your legs agree.
• ✦Metro - Line A serves Ottaviano, the station closest to St Peter's Square; from the exit, a brief stroll beside the Vatican walls leads to the basilica front.
• ✦Bus - a handful of routes circle the Vatican's edges, chiefly lines 40 and 64, with 64 setting you down nearer the goal.