Submitted by Kelly Boyle on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of English…
If you are one who is interested in religion, more specifically the Roman Catholic religion, the Vatican is definitely a place you want to visit. The Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel were breathtaking. I have to say my favorite part of the Vatican was this long hallway type room with paintings of maps on the walls. How amazing to be able to freehand paint maps before any technology we have today such as Google Earth. Our tour guide was telling us that the map paintings are actually very accurate as compared to what the actual geography of Italy is. Another really cool thing about the Vatican is the shop where you can buy rosary beads blessed by the Pope. They have any kind of rosaries you can think of, ranging in price from around 10 euros to as much as 600-700 euros. The really awesome thing about buying the rosaries is that they actually send them to your hotel after the Pope blesses them.