Scavi tour?

Last September we got to bypass the St. Peter's security line. (Go to the left side of the basilica as you're facing it and show the guard your reservation.) However, their instructions state that "while purses and small handbags are permitted in the excavations, visitors are reminded that large bags and backpacks are not permitted in the excavations at all. St. Peter's Basilica offers a free bag check service located in the lower right façade of Basilica. Large bags and backpacks must be deposited there prior to coming to the Excavations Office." So if you want to use the St. Peter's bag check, I think you'd have to go through the St. Peter's security line. Once we got to the Scavi office, the people there frankly didn't seem terribly picky about bags but, depending on the size of yours, you might not want to take a chance on being turned away.

Facing St Peters the place where you check any bags is on the right, YOUR right, the place where you enter to go on the tour is on the left and a few yards inside at a marked door. Go to the check stand, check you bag and walk to the other side to check in for your tour.

Stephanie, If your bag is purse size, you should have no problem taking it into the Vatican, on the Scavi tour or into St. Peters. We did the Scavi tour in early May (the day after the beatification) and we did not have to go through security for the Scavi Tour, but we also did not have a bag checked. I purposely did not take my travel purse with us that day, but others were on the Scavi tour with conservative day bags and one person even had a shopping bag....I was surprised, because the rule when making reservations didn't seem to include those. I've never checked a bag, but it is my understanding that the Vatican Museum checking process is different from the one at St. Peter's. But, if you check your bag at St.Peter's, you can pick it up after the Scavi Tour. Normally you can go on up into St. Peter's after the Scavi tour (we couldn't the day we did it, because of a special event related to the beatification). Someone who has actually checked a bag can advise on how long that process takes. We have been to St. Peter's three different times now. Lines for St. Peter's entry varied from no line whatsoever to lines 4 hours long (two years ago when St. Peter's was closed for a private mass). The big advantage of the Scavi tour, under normal circumstances, is that you not only get to see what few others get to see, but you also get to go right into the basilica afterward. It's easy to talk w/ the Swiss Guards to get instructions for the Scavi entry....basically to the left of St. Peter's as you look at it, but then down the private driveway a bit. We were about 20 minutes early when we showed up and they let us take the earlier tour ;)

I imagine Stephanie has finished her Scavi tour by now, but I just wanted to let others know that if you have tickets to the Scavi, you can cut to the front of the security line to go check your bag. There have to be at least two of you, and only one of you will go through security while the other(s) will have to wait at the Uscita/Exit area right next to the scanning machines. If you ask politely and show the Uscita guard your Scavi receipt, he will probably let one of you cut to the front of the security line, go check your bag, then come back for your companion(s). That's what happened with us two weeks ago. One of you has to wait with the guard to make sure it isn't some scam you're running to bypass the basilica line. This saved us having to wait in line with hundreds of others which would have made us miss our Scavi reservation. And yes, at the end of the Scavi tour, you exit out a door from the grotto that takes you outside briefly, and then right into the basilica itself. (I had thought that there were steps up from the grotto into the basilica, but no, you actually go outside briefly.)

We did get to use the stairs that go straight up into the basilica from the grotto (it was breathtaking to go straight from the small spaces of the scavi tour up into the vastness of the basilica!) Maybe which way you exit the tour depends on the crowds or events that day? Great tip on the security line, Michael.