Scheduled visit to St. Peter's Tomb

It is part of the Scavi Tour; I don't know if there is some separate way to do this. The Scavi Tour has to be booked long in advance and there are nowhere near the tickets to meet demand. They take very small groups (organized by language)
You can contact the Vatican to see if there is availability for your time or an alternative way to schedule this.

I did the Scavi tour last year and it was amazing! You do have to organize it well in advance, but it was quite easy. I followed the instructions here and heard back within a few days: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20090216_en.html
We did the tour and after exiting into the basilica we climbed the dome, which is directly over the relics. Truly memorable.

They take about 200 people per day down to the excavations so not everyone gets on a tour. It's the only way this area can be visited. You can send your request via the link above. There are specific rules you must adhere to. No one under 15 is allowed on this tour. If you have kids they cannot come with you. You must dress according to the basilica dress code. You cannot take bags or back packs with you on the tour (small purses are okay for women). You cannot take any photos on this tour. If you are lucky enough to get a slot plan the rest of your day around this tour.

Donna

Donna (or anyone else), is a year too early to email for reservations? I want to request this as soon as we reserve our airline tickets.

We booked this tour through the Scavi website in December 2015 for an October 2016 date. We were tole that 2016 is a jubilee year, therefore the daily schedule of visit may vary. Our reservation is tentative and will be confirmed 2 weeks before our visit depending on the final schedule of jubilee events and the engagements of the Holy Father. We have been to the Vatican a couple of times before but this will be our first visit to the Necropolis under the Basilica of St. Peter. It has been highly recommended to us by friends. The cost is 13 euros per person.

My family of five did this over Christmas last year. We booked the tickets about 6 months in advance. IIRC, I sent an email and received a confirmation rather quickly.

On our tour there were a few kids who looked younger than 15. No one asked us for proof of age. There was another poster on this forum who insisted that they card all children when I was researching. For my family that was not the case.

We almost missed our time as we waited in the wrong security line. he entrance is on the left side opposite the bronze doors. i mistakenly thought we needed to enter through the regular St Peters line to the right and then walk around. You don't. The Scavi tour has it's own security. Just go to the left of the square outside of the roped area and you'll see the entrance.

The tour itself was interesting and I would recommend it. It gives new (for me) history of the area. There are a number of private tombs that lined the street that St Peter's is built on. You get to see them and of course the tomb said to contain St Peter's bones and if you look carefully, a few of his bones in clear boxes. I think they had the jawbone showing when we were there.

You empty out into the tombs under the alter. Then we walked up into the cathedral.

Good luck.

Joe

When we did it one did use the main St. Peter's security line and we stowed our bags in the checkroom to the right of St. Peters. If going through the Scavi security line can you then get to the check room?

Thanks for all the info. :^)

Thanks for the info, will get to work on requesting entrance :)

When I send the request in to the Excavation department at the Vatican, do I need to compose a formal letter requesting entrance or do I simply need to supply them with only the list of things they ask for?

I composed an email that had the needed information but I did make it a point to use more a formal salutation and closing. There was a link in the first email that I received detailing how to finalize the visit which included payment information but it took no more than two days to receive the confirmation.

This is the email that I sent:

Dear Sir or Madam,

My husband and I would like to make a reservation to tour the Tomb of Saint Peter and the Necropolis during July 2016.

Our available dates are 02 July 2016 and 04 July 2016.

There are two of us and we would need an English language tour.

Our names are R****** H******* and D***** H*******.

My email is: d**********@***.com

Sincerely,

D***** H*******
12345 My Street Apt ****
City ST ZIP
USA
+1 123-456-7890

@dianneh thank you so much!

They request specific information in the email:

number of participants
name of all participants.
language of tour
dates available for tour

They stress on their website: ammessi esclusivamente da 15 anni compiuti, admitted exclusively those who have completed 15 years, meaning no one under 15. They do check ages for those who appear to be younger than 15.

Here is the contact information:

Tel. +39 06 698 85318
Fax +39 06 698 73017
E-Mail: [email protected]

Just remember that this is an exclusive tour. If you have anyone under 15 with you please don't lie just to take the tour. You'll be breaking the rules and preventing someone else from taking this tour.

Donna

I think the more important point regarding the age limit is that the tour is not intended for children. While the tour is visually interesting (and not nearly as claustrophobic as it's billed), our proctor who led the tour focused on historical aspects that would frankly be boring for most kids. The was a lot of standing and listening in small spaces and discussion on history and stories that most children would not relate to. Really fascinating stuff but if your sole goal is to have your kids see St Peter's bones, it's not justification for bringing them along. The view of the bones is from a few meters and hard to see.