Take a late Easter, add the May Day National Holiday and stir. Result? A very full Rome. Add in the beatification of an extraordinarily popular Pope, sprinkle on the resultant 750,000 Polish visitors that are expected, then stand back and see a city so full that 2 star hotel rooms have alledgedly been trading at 750 Euro.
This perfect storm has already had Rome’s hoteliers querying the planning abilities of the Vatican:
It’s like wanting to organise an event in Monaco during the Formula One Grand Prix. It’s absurd. It’s obvious that the Vatican’s calendar has nothing to do with day-to-day life
… so the head of Rome’s hoteliers association is quoted as having said.
And what has this to do with you, with us? Well it is quite possible that the Vatican will close St Peters at very short notice, or, indeed, with no notice whatsoever. There is nothing new about this, it’s just that the probability of it happening is higher at such busy times. This just applies to the Basilica of St Peters – not the Sistine Chapel or the Vatican Museums – but as ANY ticket or tour of the Vatican is viewed by the Vatican as a one-size-fits-all ticket, they never offer refunds in the event of a partial closure. And therefore neither can we.
Clearly this is entirely out of our hands and we must decline to accept any responsibility for such last minute closures. It may, of course, not happen, but do please be prepared for such an eventuality if you’re visiting at this very, very busy time for Rome and the Vatican. Please note that a few of our Saturday tours as well as the tour of the Vatican gardens have been suspended over the Easter period.
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