There are really few places all around the world, which can be compared to this. The visit pays back a 3hours queue along the walls, like sardines in a can. Once upon a time, in 1506, in a vineyard near Santa Maria Maggiore, by chance a peasant came across with a statue portraying Laocoonte, being eaten up by a beast. Giulio the second sent Giuliano san Gallo and Michelangelo to check out the situation, after a glorious booze-up, they decided to buy it. They actually did it right as this was the first papal work of art being shown publicly. Nevertheless, the museum officially opened up around 1750, with Clemente XIV e Pio VI. Must see: Egyptian museum, Pinacoteca Vatican (Leonardo, Perugino, Bernini, Giotto…), the modern collection religious art, the Matisse room, Raffaello’s oeuvres, to suss the ancient souls of Platone and Socrate playing jokes. Last but not least, Capella Sistina, papal acme, Michelangelo’s miracle.