The immense collection spread across the Popes’ former living and working quarters is seen in a new light as the sun sets. Your Italy with Us guide will blaze the trail while providing just the right amount of info – no dry lectures, no avalanche of dates, no dubious tales trotted out to impress you.

You’ll stroll onto the museums’ terrace for a dusk view of Saint Peter’s Basilica. A gilt bronze sphere glimmers atop the dome, one of the final works of Renaissance genius Michelangelo, whose presence permeates the museums. In the distance, the Sistine Chapel looms. But first you’ll walk in the footsteps of Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci to see the classical statuary that inspired this trio.

The Belvedere Apollo beckons, a second-century AD marble sculpture with a familiar face. It’s Christ in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement. Nearby, watch as Laocoön, a Trojan priest, battles sea serpents, his rippling muscles being the perfect study of marble in motion. And then examine the Belvedere Torso, a fragment of a first-century BC statue that served as a muse for Michelangelo, Raphael and even Rodin.

These marvellous marble works are just the beginning. In the various galleries, you will walk through a stone Roman Empire – statues and floors made of green marble imported from Turkey and yellow marble from North Africa as well as the extremely rare purple stone from Egypt called porphyry. But nothing compares to Afghanistan’s lapis lazuli, a brilliant blue gemstone that was more expensive than gold. Michelangelo pulverized and mixed it with blue paint to create the Last Judgement’s dramatic background.

Smaller scale art also awaits the lucky few on an evening tour. Check out the stupefying collection of micromosaics of nature and Roman monuments. And thanks Italy with Us’ special relationship with the Vatican, you will also gaze upon mosaics from Hadrian’s villa. Another must-see is the Gallery of Maps’ accurate, astoundingly beautiful 16th-century maps of Italy, particularly moving on summer evenings when the dark skies outside enhance the frescoes’ bright colours.

All this prepares you for the Sistine Chapel. In 1508, Michelangelo began work on his glorious ceiling, a fresco cycle depicting the origins of the universe, man and evil. Two decades later, he returned to create the Last Judgement, a masterpiece in which the saved and damned encircle Christ. The unconventional work garnered praise but also criticism for the nudes that were eventually covered with drapery. Yet clothes can’t hide the extensive artistic and religious symbolism as well as Michelangelo’s jab at one of his fiercest critics. Who? Discover that titbit and more during your tour.

Notice: Under 25s Discount only valid for student ID card holders (passports not accepted).

Dress code: Knees and shoulders should be covered at all times during your tour or you will not be allowed entrance.