Audio Tour of St. Peter's Basilica

The Amuze app has introduced a new tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. After the highlights tour of the Vatican Museums, it is the second tour available in Vatican City. So, now you can use our app to combine your tours for both iconic places.

The tour of St. Peter’s Basilica is full of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, starting with the elliptical St. Peter’s Square with its magnificent four-column wide colonnades. If you find the two foci of this elliptical square, indicated by two marble disks of the floor, something magical happens. Instead of seeing four rows of columns on each side of the square, you will only see a single row of column as all columns perfectly line up.

​The tour continues by discussing the façade of the basilica and the Holy Door which only opens every 25 years or in special jubilee years. Inside the church, you will be impressed by its magnificent size and the large number of tombs and monuments. In this tour, we will guide you along some of the highlights of this museum. Some of them you cannot miss as they are so magnificent, like the Baldachin in the center of the crossing and the Throne of St. Peter in the apse. 

St. Peter's Square by Bernini

Throne of St. Peter by Bernini

​But the tour will also guide you along other highlight, such as the amazingly-preserved body of Pope John XXIII which is on public display, and the wonderful Monument to Pope Alexander VII. And it finishes with one of the most famous statues in the world, the Pietà by Michelangelo. If you don’t prepare your visit, you may even miss this masterpiece as it is tucked away in a corner of the church. 

Pietà by Michelangelo

​We are sure that you will learn a thing or two during this tour, whether this is the first time you visit the basilica or whether you have seen it before. And, of course, we sincerely hope that it enhances your visit as that is our main goal with these tours.

​Cheers, Eelco