Hi everyone, We're planning our very first visit to Italy and are so excited. One of the things I really want to do is to take the Scavi tour. I sent an email request last night, and was so happy to have a response this morning! They've confirmed our request for April, but now my husband (who suffers a bit from claustrophobia) isn't so sure he can do it. For those of you who have taken this tour, can you describe just how low the ceilings are or how narrow the passageways are? He's toured caves before, but it's the low ceilings that bother him. Thanks!

We just did a Scavi tour during Christmas. My grandson is 21, average build around 6 feet. He did not have to stoop over to get thru any passageways.
The tour should be fine unless your husband has problems similar to Mr. Monk.
Martha

Thanks! My husband is 6 feet also, so that's good to know. As long as the ceiling is not right above his head, I think he'll be okay. Who's Mr. Monk?

Mr Monk is that phobic detective on TV.

I have had problems with going into caves in the past, but I had no problem with the Scavi tour.

This site has pictures of the rooms on the tour.
http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/Scavi-map.htm
you can look at them and see that the floor is a ways from the ceiling. Myself, that floor to ceiling factor rather than the width of the chamber determines whether claustophobia will set in.

Our group of 6 joined another of 4 and three of them left within the first ten minutes - they were claustrophobic.

bmellow (great name btw)
I've never been on the Scavi tour, but bookmarked THIS REPORT BY SHARON Z. for future reference. It may be helpful for you.

Have a blast planning your trip! First trip to Italy, lucky you!! I'm sure it will be the first of many

Ciao, meow
Pokey

Thank you all for the info! Hmmm, now I'm wondering if my husband will make it or not (thanks, Kim Maybe if I drug him up... just kidding. So, it sounds like the groups are really small. 10 or so?

I was so happy they responded to my request so quickly.

A word about backpacks and the Scavi Tour. My wife and I scheduled a tour for our last trip. We always have a zaino (backpack) with us when walking around Italy. Water, maps, books, the usual. From reading I knew I couldn't take it into ths Scavi, but also read their is a free storage facility. The rub is it's a part of the basillica, to get to it you have to wait in the humongous line to get into St Peters.

We arrived ten minutes before our tour started and I went to drop off the pack. Uh uh. Not happening. I ended up missing the tour because of this. So be warned (or if some knows where or how to get to this storage site without waiting in line PLEASE tell me) deal with the zaino ahead of time or don't bring one.

This was a wild day in St Peters square. While I waited for my wife a huge thunder storm broke out and I was a afraid for St Peters dome.

jb

I didn't find the tour to be as claustrophobic as I thought it might be, and didn't have any problems. That being said, though, I made sure to either be at the front or the back of the group, which greatly helped. My claustrophobia kicks in more with crowds than tight spaces; even though there were less than a dozen people, being in the middle of the pack got to me a bit.

bmellow,
Have you or your family suffered from claustrphobia? If you are known to have this condition, I wouldd advise against the tour. But "normal" non-claustrophic people ought not have a problem.
I, non-claustrophobic, did have trouble breathing, because the airing system was hotso-hotso, as our guide admitted. Having a small hand-held fan saved me, while I noticed many others on tour were sweating profusely. It was late September.

Hi there bmellow,
I am an "underground" claustrophobic. I simply cannot go under things. I did make it through San Clemente, after a friend, Katie Parla, suggested it. There are some other places to see underground Rome with head room and wide surroundings. I know it is not the Vatican, but if you are looking for the layers of Rome, I just wanted to let you know that there are options.

Since my problem is just going underground, I jumped at a chance to visit the interior of the Piramide de C. Cestio. Boy, was that a mistake! It is a fairly large room inside, but the tunnel entrance really got my claustrophobia going. Fortunately, the tour is very, very short in duration and I managed to control my panic with breathing rituals. I was hoping I didn't freak out as my Italian language skills don't run to explaining why I suddenly become crazy....

I think that your husband needs to think about the triggers/situations that affect his particular type of issues, and then base your decision to go/not go on that. I wouldn't his main memories of Rome to be an attack under the Vatican!

Good luck with your trip planning. Whatever you do in Rome, you will love it all.

DMae

Boy, I am not sure now whether or not he will want to do this. He's okay in caves, as long as the ceiling isn't too low. He freaks out at MRI's and has to do the open ones. If the air is really stuffy and it's hot, then I might have a problem, even though I don't think I'm claustrophobic. Our tour is the last week of April, so maybe it won't be so hot? For some reason I was expecting it to be cool and even damp like a cave. I would feel bad going to the tour and then backing out at the last second knowing these tickets are not the easiest to get and someone else could have taken our spot.

We're Catholic so to be able to see the resting place of what is believed to be the remains of St. Peter would be very meaningful to me. However, I'm going to have to think about this one.

I had a real hard time getting through the tour; I felt dizzy to the point that I simply couldn't stand on my feet. It was in December so the temperature wasn't an issue but I am apparently quite sensitive to air quality and smell. If I thought I wouldn't interrupt the tour for the rest of the group, I would have left half way through but looking back, I'm glad that I stuck it to the end as it was an amazing experience.

If your husband is okay in caves and only goes into a panic in completely enclosed space, my guess is that he'd probably be okay. Ceilings are low and passageways can be narrow but you'd spend most of the time in "rooms" that are large enough to hold a group of 12+ people.

I tend to be very claustrophobic but really didn't have trouble with the Scavi tour. The guide kept telling us exactly where we were and how it related to the outside. There are a few places where only one or two people can go in at a time but even they weren't bad. The ceiling is high enough that you don't get a real feeling of being closed in. I found the Underground Cities in Cappadocia, Turkey to feel much more closed in (and I did have to stop and go no further in them) because of all the stooping and bending you did to get through the tunnels. I didn't feel that during the Scavi tour. That said, I am only 5 foot 1 inch tall and maybe that's why it didn't feel like the ceiling was low. There are many rooms which are very large and ending up at the tomb of Pope John Paul II and seeing St. Peter's burial site would be make this well worth it. We only had six in our group and it was at the end of October and not at all hot. BJinNM

My husband is 6'8" and he didn't feel that the ceilings were particularly low. There are situations where, to see a particular thing, one person at a time can go into a small space, but if your husband were uncomfortable with it, he could just not do that 15 second part of the tour. We were there the first half of November. It was very humid in the excavations, but not particularly hot. I kept my fleece vest and windbreaker on and wasn't uncomfortable. My husband was sweating a bit in shirtsleeves, but he tends that way anyway. For example, the temperature outdoors was in the 60s F - the Italians were wearing scarves, down coats and fur collars, and my husband was comfortable with no jacket.

It was not hot and stuffy on the Scavi tour. It was cool and humid. I went in feb 2008. The Italians were all wearing down coats and scarves

Thank you all very much for sharing your experience and it has helped a lot. At least we will have an idea what to expect. Even if he chooses not to go (he's leaning that way), I will try to persevere. It's something I really want to do.

One last question about it.. When you are down below and you are walking from point to point, is the passageway really narrow? Is it single file walking or roomier than that? At the narrowest part of the passageway is it like 3 ft wide, or more?

I promise I'll let it rest after this

Thanks!

Both - I remember points where we could congregate and others where it was single file. You should definitely do it; it was one of he highlights of our 2005 trip.

bmellow,
some is single file but a lot is not. You can walk thru without turning sideways and with a large bulky coat on with a thick sweater you can still walk thru.
Obviously the temp and humidity varies. Perhaps the recent flooding was a factor!? This Christmas was warm and humid in Scavi while outside was around 4C. Layers would be a good idea.
Regards
Martha

I am borderline clautrophobic and have taken this trip x 2. I am a very tall woman. I always felt like I could get out and I never felt shor t of breath or anxious. There is plenty of space to move around. You should not have a problem.

ENJOY!
ST. MONICA

Roomy is relative. One very large man in our group could not get through certain areas without squeezing.

We went in late October and it was hot, stuffy and close.

I thought the tour was excellent and worth doing. As someone who hates confined spaces, especially when they are warm, it was not the most pleasant but I made it with no real issues.

As I mentioned, 4 others simply could not get past the first ten minutes and the docent told them they needed to leave before it was too late to do so as everyone needed to be escorted.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experience. I received my final confirmation today after submitting my credit card info, so I think we're all set. I definitely will do the tour and don't think I'll have any trouble. Hubby wants to see how he feels the day of, so I'll let you know how it turns out. It was the first tour I even thought about reserving, so I'm very pleased they confirmed so quickly. I'll work everything else out around it.

Below is H.V. Morton's excellent description of the setting for the Scavi tour from his wonderful A Traveller in Rome .

“We were standing in a Roman street... Tombs, one after the other, stood behind a continuous facade of beautiful red Roman brick which was pierced every few yards by massive travertine doorways and by windows. A road about five feet wide separated one row of buildings from those opposite... The tombs consisted of one room or, at the most, two. They were beautifully designed to look like the houses of the living, and the rooms were brightly decorated; there was nothing sad or gloomy about them. Some were painted in brilliant Pompeian red, and the walls and ceilings were bright with cupids, birds and flowers. They were sitting-rooms for the soul. Some of the tombs were furnished with niches for cinerary urns, some with shelves for sarcophagi. I glanced up at the roof-line of the street, once in the open air of the hillside and now untouched by sun or rain for sixteen hundred years: and I thought of the people thirty feet or so above, who were at that moment walking upon the polished pavements of St. Peter’s, unaware of this strange scene below.”

Claustrophobic? Not to Morton.

And if you have someone like Elaina weaving the story line in with what you are viewing the tour will be unforgettable.
Martha

Martha, who is Elaina? And can you tell me something about her tours? Thanks!

bmellow,
Elaina is an English speaking Italian docent who leads English language Scavi tours for the Vatican. Our tour was at 9:15 a.m. and she was terrific.
Martha

We did the tour in April 2006 and it was great. My sister was worried as she sometimes suffers claustrophobia, but all went well for her.

Our group was quite small, 8 from memory (5 of us and 3 strangers)

Elly

Sounds as if your husband is concerned and as a "seimi-claustophobic myself, who has been on the Scavi tour, have him see his family physician, explain the problem and get a prescription for anxiety attacks. These are not addictive and one about an hour prior to going on the tour will solve the issue for about 6 hours. Not wanting to take a "pill" should not hold anyone back from seeing the underground treasures of Rome, including the catacombs, the underground wonders of the San Clemente bascilla or even the sights of Rome from the heights of Saint Peters dome. After your trip, have him put the pills up for the next because you will return. PS: He can do it without the pill, but, why? Have a great trip and a gelato on me....

lab455ad,
I am not sure what pill you are referring to but I have to say that taking a mood altering medication for the 1st time right before going on the Scavi Tour is probably not a good idea for several reasons.
Also medication goes out of date because it can degrade. It should not be stored away for the next time when that time will not be in the very near future.
Martha

Interesting thread! My mom and I went to Italy in November 07, and the Scavi tour was on my list of "must dos". Mom is extremely claustrophobic, so she never considered going. For those who are mildly claustrophobic (as I am) I think the best route to take to to plan to take the tour and have an agreement with your travel partners that the claustrophobia won't be discussed further. If you choose to go, fine; if not, that's fine too! But talking about it during the time leading up to the trip just makes it worse and builds that anxiety that eventually takes over!

I agree. I think we're done with discussing this at home, but I really appreciate everyone sharing their advice and experiences. What we've decided to do, is go to the tour and see how he feels at the beginning. I will continue on, but it's up to him to do what he's comfortable with.

KNoel, did you take the tour? My worry is how we'll meet up once the tour is over. There's always something

I did take the tour, and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was a spritual experience for me that I'll never forget. Mom and I picked a place to meet on on the steps where the huge columns are; that way she could watch all the activity going on; there was some kind of ordination service going on that day, so it was fun to watch all the people in various garb line up. Mom took pictures of me talking to the guards and entering the area where the tour starts as if I was in first grade (I'm 50!!!)--it was so funny.

My husband is claustrophobic but LOVED that tour. We went with our young adult children and we all agreed it was aour favorite Rome experience.

I am severly claustrophobic and was very aprehensive about the tour. When we first started down, I felt like I couldn't do it, but my friends said I could and I am so glad I did. After that first moment I had no problem--it's right at the first that it seems closed in, but from there on I always had plenty of space and no feelings of needing to get out at all. The tour is fascinating and one of the highlights of that trip.

Thanks for sharing that, so he will know what to expect. I really hope he can do it. I've heard so many great things about this tour. I recently discovered some podcasts by a Dutch priest, Fr Roderick who took the tour last December. He pretty much gives the tour in his podcast Daily Breakfast 581 and I found it so interesting. He was also able to celebrate Mass in a small chapel in the Scavi very close to the remains believed to be St. Peter. I think you must have pretty high connections to have that privilege.