Vatican Museums Untold History Tour

Usually, regular tours don’t tell the whole history and hide some parts to the gay and lesbian travelers.

The Untold History Tours are inspired to give the LGBTQ+ community a view of gay and lesbian personalities from the past, part of our own history.

Our original Untold History Tours are unique. This tour at the Vatican Museums will showcase one of the greatest artists of all : Michelangelo.

The tour starts with the Vatican Museums’ tour. At first sight, you will be caught by the modern entrance built for the Jubilee in 2000, but then –inside the museums– the Sistine Chapel will amaze you.

The ceiling was painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. The order was originally to paint the twelve apostles, however Michelangelo demanded a free hand in the pictorial content of the scheme. He painted a series of nine pictures now worldwide famous.

However, the Church had some big homosexual scandals in the XVIth century: for example, Pope Julius III and his young lover Innocenzo del Monte, who became Cardinal at the age of 17.

You will be able to see the paintings of St. Sebastian, a Roman soldier and Christian Saint, patron of homosexuals. The history says that during the Black Plague, St. Sebastian was invoked against pestilence and the identification of him with homosexuality strengthened during  Renaissance, when some artists painted him as a beautiful naked young boy tied up to a trunk or suffering the torments of piercing arrows. 

Also, one of the biggest love stories in Rome was the one that Hadrianus, a Roman Emperor, had with Antinous. They were together until Antinous died drowned on a trip up the Nile in 130. Here you will see their sculptures and hear the story.

One of the masterpieces that you will see is the Torso del Belvedere, that probably represent the body of a muscle bear guy. It constitutes a real praise of the male body, that mostly of all of the artists tented to represent in their artworks.

In the Vatican Grottoes, the tomb of Princess Christine of Sweden (XVII century) who converted to Catholicism but was deliberately lesbian. She had a love story with the beautiful young court lady Ebba Sparre. Christine wrote her many love letters, where she declares her desperate love to Ebba. Christine aways refused any wedding the royal family proposed her, as she said, because ‘unable to accept any form of awe, which a wedding with a man always includes’

The Parnasus Fresco (1510 -1511), by Raffaello Sanzi, represents Mount Parnasus which the Greek mithology depicts as the Place of Muses. Eighteen poets are also to be found in this fresco. Amongst them, Sappho, the Greek Lesbian poetress is showing her name to the others

For reservations from 5 people on, please write to booking@quiiky.com or call +39 02 78622532 (from Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 UTC+1) for a taylor-made offer.

BONUS: add the ‘ Castel Sant’Angelo Tour’ to this one and get a 10% discount on both tours! Do not miss the deal to get a complete overview of the Vatican hidden secrets!

Discover all the hidden secrets about the private life of Michelangelo: scientists from all over the world now agree that he was homosexual and had a love story with a young poet.

This tour will make you discover the true history about gay and lesbian famous artists of the past trough their art works. Our researchers and our experts in history had discover evidence in different books, sculptures and poetry, proving that a lot of famous personalities were homosexual.

Discover the Sistine Chapel and enjoy all the sculptures that will show you how gays and lesbians where very important. A time when inclusion existed and homosexuality was not a mere description  but a way of life.