Photos and Videos

In case you wondered, this is what a Vatican City license plate looks like. The SCV stands for (roughly translated) State City Vatican.

Plants along "Observatory Road" are decidedly not native.

The Fountain of the Sacrament. Behind it is the current home of former Pope Benedict XVI.

La Casina di Pio IV, completed in 1558.

The fountain marking the entrance to La Casina di Pio IV.

The Vatican Museum; 17,000-35,000 people tour it daily.

Statuary forms a major role in the Vatican City skyline.

A view of the outside of the Sistine Chapel, as seen within Vatican City.

The rear of the dome of St. Peters peeks over buildings that form a different square within Vatican City.

Lunch in Piazza Navona, an unscheduled bonus after the Vatican, included an opportunity to buy unlicensed "designer name purses" from unauthorized vendors.

Bernini's Elephant, outside the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

Electric candles inside the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.

A Roman carpenter pauses in his work to watch the Tauck group go by.

A detail from the ceiling in the Vatican Museum, seen during an after-hours tour before the tour's highlight (and Tauck exclusive): Dinner in the Vatican Museum.

The group was allowed to take non-flash photos during its visit to the Sistine Chapel, which is typically forbidden. Talking is also discouraged, but Tauck guides were allowed to give commentary. In this famous ceiling panel, our guide pointed out that the shell that God rests in looks suspiciously like a human brain.

Michelangelo's masterpiece "The Last Judgment" covers one wall of the chapel.

A sister prays in Santa Maria Maggiore church.

The Cloisters attached to San Giovanni in Laterano Basilica.

A painting remains on what is thought to be the wall of an apartment, in what is now an underground city being excavated beneath San Giovanni in Laterano Basilica. The opportunity to see it was rare; our guide said that he and other local professional guides have previously been denied permission to enter it.

A detail from the Scala Santa Sanctorum, a small room seen only by appointment, behind the church's Holy Stairs.

Tauck arranged for the designer Michele Miglionico to put on a fashion show for guests at the Weston Excelsior Hotel, where the group stayed.

The film "Roman Holiday," which featured Audrey Hepburn in her first starring role, lent its name to the Tauck Event. The tour visited Palazzo Barberini, whose grand hall, above, was the setting for the final "press conference" scene in the movie.

A stand-in for Audrey Hepburn appeared to pose with the group for the tour's official portraits, taken in the grand hall.

Trevi Fountain was part of the tour, but is being renovated and is almost completely covered in scaffolding.

Though it's covered in scaffolding, the administrators of Trevi Fountain created a spot for tourists to throw in the traditional three coins.

The owners of this statue, Prince and Princess Boncompagni Ludovisi, say the satyr was carved by none other than Michelangelo.

Princess Boncaompangi Lucovici, who came to fame in the U.S. as convicted ABSCAM Congressman John Jenrette's wife, Rita, gave a very personal tour of her home, Villa Aurora, to Tauck guests. She told stories about many of the villas previous guests, including Galileo, Henry James, Woody Allen and Madonna.

A detail from a painting by Caravaggio on the plaster ceiling of one of the villa's rooms. The artist was in his early 20s when he painted it.

On the final night, guests were brought to CineCitta, Italy's Hollywood, and had their final reception and dinner on a movie set of ancient Rome.