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No trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Vatican Museums with your children. Our Vatican tour for kids concentrates on very few highlights, the best approach to maximize fun and learning.

Animals and Imagination: Vatican Tour for Kids

The Egyptian Museum, founded by Pope Gregorio XVI in 1839, really appeals to kids. The exotic, half-human, half-animal Egyptian gods and the ultra-cool sphinx never fail to grab a child’s imagination. The practice of mummifying reaches its maximum diffusion even among the lower middle classes of Egyptian society during the 20th-21st dynasties (1200-950 BC), and in this section you will see mummies wrapped in their linen shrouds laid in plastered and painted sarcophaguses.

Stop in front of the Laocoon marble group to learn about the massive wooden horse known as the Trojan horse. Then proceed to the Room of Animals (if opened) which houses an amazing collection of ancient Roman animal sculptures

Carriage Pavilion and Climbing the Dome

The Carriage Pavilion houses a collection of carriages and automobiles used by popes and cardinals. Some gems include: the very last Volkswagen Beetle to roll off the production line in Mexico. The light teal 2003 Bug with whitewall tires was donated to Blessed John Paul in 2004 to thank him for visiting the country in 2002; the steering wheel of a Ferrari Formula One racing car donated to Blessed John Paul in 2005 by the car-market’s president, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. An accompanying plaque honors the pope for his “26 years in the pole position on the roads of humanity”; an immense six-horse-drawn Gran Gala gilded carriage whose wooden wheels are more than five feet high. It was built around 1826 for Pope Leo XII.

The highlight is of course Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, but climbing up the dome of St Peter’s Basilica is also a blast for kids, making a perfect end to this Vatican tour for kids!

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