Vatican security timing for early access tour and afternoon scavi tour

we are lucky enough to have scavi tour tickets for 1 pm on Monday, May 14 2018. We also have an early entry museum and Sistine chapel tour that starts at 7:30 and ends at 11 am the same day. We will likely want to leave St. Peter's to get a quick lunch before the scavi tour starts. Will we have to stand in the security lines again to get into the area where the scavi office is located? If so, how much time should we allow to get through security and be at the scavi office at 12:45 pm? If this is not possible, is there anywhere past security to get something to eat before we go to the scavi office? Thank you!

The security line for the Scavi tour is off to the side of St.Peters. There is a metal detector with security guards, it is usually a long wait at all. Then you see the Swiss guards who will direct you to the Scavi office.

I think coco33 meant to say that it is NOT a long wait at all.

You don't have to go through the security check for the basilica, which is often quite a long wait. The access for the Scavi tour is to the left of the Basilica; there will be a Swiss Guard there and you show your confirmation to get through.

There is not much choice in where to eat inside the Vatican, but plenty of (mostly overpriced) places around it selling food like sandwiches, pizza, etc. I wouldn't waste a lot of time looking for a place, your margin of error on the start of the second tour isn't great and if you're late they will not let you go.

Mina,

Interesting that you have tickets for May 2018 already. I was going to wait to email them (I assume that's still the procedure?) after Christmas but it sounds like I can do this now?

We will be there 2 weeks before you.

Melissa

Melissa, I was surprised as well. I did the email and then did not hear for two weeks. I would go ahead and try as May is a very popular time. I am really looking forward to this tour! Also, I was wrong about the afternoon Scavi English tour start time. It actually starts at 3pm. So we will have a lot of time hanging out before the tour starts, but I am fine with that!

Mina, I went to the Excavations webpage and used their contact form. I'm not sure if it went or went twice! I will wait 2 weeks and see what I hear. Then will plan rest of trip around that. Thanks for the heads up!

Melissa

Good luck Melissa. I assumed they had ignored me cause I was too early, but I did get a confirm two weeks after I emailed

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You won't believe this! Confirmation this morning (12 hours after I sent the form??) for Thursday May 3 at 11 a.m. for 2 people.

Now we have to decide if we're going to do the early entrance on Wednesday or Friday (breakfast or not) or the Friday evening at the Vatican.

DH can't take too much walking/out at one stretch so I don't want to do Vatican that same morning.

Great! Please come back and post after you go. Would love specifics on getting into the Scavi office area. We have the early entry tour the same day and will need to hang out in the Vatican area till 3 pm for our afternoon Scavi tour. But since we have limited time, we don’t want to come back the next day. Hopefully we can find somewhere to just sit and people watch.

This was good information. Thank you.

I've been researching cool things to do in Rome while we are there precruise. I kept seeing SCAVI Tour and thought it was yet another tour operator doing the Vatican. I discovered otherwise a couple of days ago. The SCAVI Tour is one of the hottest tickets in all of Rome. Fewer than 250 tickets are issued per day. You cannot book it through a tour group. You must email Scavi directly. The Vatican Necropolis, or Scavi, is located directly beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, contains everything from papal tombs to an ancient Roman street and St. Peter’s mausoleum!

Here are links to two sites that proved helpful in explaining the tour and telling me how to book it.http://thecatholictraveler.com/vatican-scavi-tour/ and http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/in...090216_it.html

Cost for a guided tour, with a group size not exceeding 12, is 13 Euros. I was able to get a reply in under 24 hours. We gave them 2 dates (you can't pick times) and we successfully secured tickets for 11:15 am on a Thursday in late April 2018.

Quick question about timing...we also have Scavi tickets for April. Our tour is scheduled at 9:00. Do you think we could do one of the early entry tours (7:30) to do a quick look at the Sistine Chapel before the crowds hit and make our 9 o’clock Scavi tour?

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We did the Scavi tour last April. The security line is on the left side as you are facing the Vatican. The line was not long at all but I would leave a little time. They do not let you go through security until it is almost time for your tour. After security you go to the Swiss Guard, you can't miss them, and they have you walk to the Scavi office which is a short walk up a driveway. It will be on your right. If you are late, they will leave without you.

There is a gift shop and restrooms fairly close to the security entrance so you may want to arrive early and find the correct location and then use the restrooms and check out the gift shop while you are waiting.

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Thank you for the info on the gift shop and restrooms. I was wondering what our options would be given we are there all day from early morning on.

Question: I am thinking about having a small cross body anti theft purse with me. Will I be allowed to keep it during the Scavi Tour? Do not want to have to leave it at the bag storage place.

Thank you for the info on the gift shop and restrooms. I was wondering what our options would be given we are there all day from early morning on.

 

Question: I am thinking about having a small cross body anti theft purse with me. Will I be allowed to keep it during the Scavi Tour? Do not want to have to leave it at the bag storage place.

A small purse will pose no problem.

We submitted our request for Scavi tickets on November 8 for tours the week of April 9 . On November 14 (two days ago) I received confirmation of a tour on Friday April 13 at 11:00 AM. We plan to the Scavi tour, try to eat some lunch inside the security area, and do the free English language tour of St. Peters at 2:15 PM. Some questions.

1. We know there is a security line on the right side of St. Peters Square as you face the Basilica under the colonnades. Our experience is that this is a long line, often stretching across St. Peter's Square. Is there a security line on the left side where you enter for the Scavi Tour and the TI office for the Basilica tour?

2. We will have about an hour between the tours. Is there somewhere we can eat lunch without having to do security again?

We submitted our request for Scavi tickets on November 8 for tours the week of April 9 . On November 14 (two days ago) I received confirmation of a tour on Friday April 13 at 11:00 AM. We plan to the Scavi tour, try to eat some lunch inside the security area, and do the free English language tour of St. Peters at 2:15 PM. Some questions.

 

1. We know there is a security line on the right side of St. Peters Square as you face the Basilica under the colonnades. Our experience is that this is a long line, often stretching across St. Peter's Square. Is there a security line on the left side where you enter for the Scavi Tour and the TI office for the Basilica tour?

 

2. We will have about an hour between the tours. Is there somewhere we can eat lunch without having to do security again?

We have tickets for scavi at 9:00 am on April 13! We may be passing each other in the street :)

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We submitted our request for Scavi tickets on November 8 for tours the week of April 9 . On November 14 (two days ago) I received confirmation of a tour on Friday April 13 at 11:00 AM. We plan to the Scavi tour, try to eat some lunch inside the security area, and do the free English language tour of St. Peters at 2:15 PM. Some questions.

 

1. We know there is a security line on the right side of St. Peters Square as you face the Basilica under the colonnades. Our experience is that this is a long line, often stretching across St. Peter's Square. Is there a security line on the left side where you enter for the Scavi Tour and the TI office for the Basilica tour?

 

2. We will have about an hour between the tours. Is there somewhere we can eat lunch without having to do security again?

We have been told the security line is on the left and is only for folks with Scavi Tour tickets. You can google Vatican Scavi entrance and some maps will come up showing where you enter.

Didn't realize I could request this yet.

But thanks to all on this thread posting, I put my request in for the Week on June 25th on Saturday.

Received the confirmation today for Tuesday 9 am, probably the exact day and time I would have requested -:D

The security line for the Scavi tour is off to the side of St.Peters. There is a metal detector with security guards, it is usually a long wait at all. Then you see the Swiss guards who will direct you to the Scavi office.

Is actually depend when you are traveling, anything from 20 to 30 minutes!

I was able to request and received confirmation within 24 hours for our tour on October 15, 2018.

We were assigned 9:00 a.m.

Thank you for letting us know there is bathrooms nearby and that my small purse will be okay. Those

were a couple things I wondered about.

On our roll call, the person suggesting this tour says you end up inside the Basilica. I am so excited

for this tour sounds amazing!

We have been back a week and wanted to update all on the Scavi tour: it was wonderful but not easy to do. Allow plenty of time to get to the correct location. The cab dropped us off at the beginning of St. Peter's Square. It's a hike to the left of the Basilica where the scanner is. No signs but no line either. (The regular line was wrapped around the square) We just showed our tickets to go through security. Then up the slight hill to show tickets at the office. Tour started right on time. The guide was full of information but was difficult to understand sometimes: an English tour means an Italian who speaks English. A lot of steps throughout, some stone, some metal. Lots of standing, stooping through passage ways, walking on uneven stones. There are no benches or other rest stops. At the end, we were left in the grottos with thousands of other people and had to find our way up to the Basilica which meant going outside and in the front door. But at least we didn't have to stand in the regular line!

If you plan on taking the elevator (10E) to the dome, it is outside on the left before you turn right to go to the front door. We had to double back to find it. The cafe in the dome is around the dome and down the steps to the roof, near the exit.

I had a small cross body purse with me that had a camera in it and they did not make me check it.

YES, I am glad I did it but it is not for anyone with mobility issues of any kind. You have to be able to keep up.

thanks for the informative update... We are booked for December 2018 on the 9 am Scavi, then a 12 noon Vatican tour through an independent tour guide. We will be sure to arrive for the scavi tour in plenty of time.