I am so excited!! I got the offical email today saying we have reservations for the tour on May 9th! I had about given up! I am a little confused after reading the posts about checking your bags. I carry a purse that looks kind of like a small backpack. Should I check that? If I carry that in, should I check my small digital camera I usually keep inside? I wasn't sure if the checking of the camera's was because they are bulky around your neck and would get in the way in tight spaces or because camera's are not allowed.

Congratulations

We are leaving and 5 days and are still awaiting a reply

Guess you will have to post your experiences for us

We just received notification and a request for our preferred days and names of the people in our family.
Still no guarantee of a tour, but at least it is our second response.
Fingers crossed, we will get a spot.

Elly

You will need to go through security at St. Peter's and check your bag. When you leave the Vatican (after your tour) ask one of the guards at the the cathedral's steps if he will let you you in without going through security again.
We told one that we had bags checked and just came back from the Scavi tour, so he let us in.
This saved us from what then was a huge line.
Enjoy Rome and this great tour.

I had a small backpack purse that I kept with me when we took the Scavi tour last April and had no problem taking it in with me. It was no larger than the purses others had on their shoulders or in their hands. I had nothing else with me, so I didn't look too "bulky", I guess.

People will be allowed to take cameras in, but they can't use them on the tour.

Now I am a bit more confused as to what I should do.(Mom 83 said she kept her packpack purse with her and Jabez said they let you bring your camera in, you just can't use it.) One of the reasons I am trying to figure this out is a timing issue. We are going to tour St.Peter's in the morning, then a 12:00 Scavi Tour. That should be out by 1:30 at which time we were going to head over to the Vatican. Could having to go back to St.Peter's to get our stuff before the Vatican cause us to miss the cut off time of 3:00 to get into the vatican? Should we just leave our stuff until after the vatican tour? When do they close St.Peter's?

I took in a shoulderbag that's almost the size of a small backpack and had a digital camera inside. No problem at all; no one even questioned it.

l&w. I know - it is confusing!
Here is exactly what happened to us. I know it is no guarantee for you, but it is what we experienced.
My husband, our daughter (21), son (18),and I all took the Scavi tour at 9:15am last April 4th. I had a smallish backpack purse (with a small 35mm camera inside it) and my daughter had one also (with her small digital camera in it). My son had his small digital camera that he kept in the leg pocket of his cargo pants. My husband actually had a 35mm camera around his neck on a strap which he gave to my daughter to put in her backpack purse. Not one of us was asked to check anything. We got there early for the tour, anticipating that we might have to check items. The woman who led our tour looked us over and said absolutely nothing about any of the items we had with us. No one checked inside our purses either.

I also had a shoulder bag that I was able to take in and didn't have to check. It's pretty close quarters in there so you don't want to have anything that is so bulky that it may brush up against walls or get in the way of others on the tour.

I was actually surprised when we went on the Scavi Tour in September that nobody in our group had to check a bag or small daypack.

Bill...I know...I know... not exactly slow! Now, you know I'm all about staying put and enjoying one area when we go to Italy, but this time we are treating our brother and sister-in-law who never get to go anywhere to this trip with us. We have rented a Villa in Southern Tuscany for a week and had just planned to spend time in the little hill towns nearby. My sister-in-law was crushed at getting to go to Italy and not seeing the Sistine Chapel. I got tired of looking at her sad face and agreed we would all go to Rome for a day. It is only a little over an hour on the train from Chiusi.I have been to Rome several times but have never been on the Scavi Tour. This is our only day and I have to somehow make this schedule work. We will have my son in law with us who use to be a Rome tour guide so hopefully that will help!I am thinking now, I will switch and go to the Vatican first, then the Scavi tour, and last St.Peter's. I just can't take a chance after all this whinning of her not getting to see the Sistine Chapel!

quote:

Originally posted by l&w:... Could having to go back to St.Peter's to get our stuff before the Vatican cause us to miss the cut off time of 3:00 to get into the vatican? Should we just leave our stuff until after the vatican tour?...

The St. Peter's baggage check will be on your way from the exit of the Scavi Tour (also the entrance) to the Vatican Museums. It is very quick to retrieve your checked items. On this map the meeting point for the tour is near #82 and the baggage check is on the opposite side of St. Peter's, sort of near #3 (but on the square side, of course).

Be sure to take your smallest day bags to the Vatican museum, though. My son had a backpack that the staff at the entrance to the Vatican Museums made him check. But after the Sistine Chapel we had planned to take the "Rick Steves recommended exit" that leads right down to the entrance of St. Peters, bypassing the walk all the way back to the museum entrance. I was stuck going back to the entrance with my son for the checked pack; my husband, son and inlaws exited directly to St. Peter's. My son and I then had to go through the security checkpoints again in St. Peter's square -- a very long wait in July.

Geralyn

Thanks for the tip!