Italy: See the Pope for $500, Meet him for $2400
By sandra. Filed in Art, Italy, Museum, Religion |
It costs $500 a year to join Patrons of the Vatican Museums which means you are a donor to the Vatican museums. For your basic membership, you get to jump the line at Vatican Museums – as in going straight in to the Sistine Chapel in the morning before anyone else. You get private tours of off limits galleries and restoration labs, special access to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Gardens, priority seating at the Pope’s weekly general audience, and can score coveted tickets to Midnight Mass.
This is not necessarily for Catholics, but for anyone who is an art buff and eager for behind the scenes access. On top of that, it’s a good deal as it is tax deductible.
Three hundred and fifty of this fundraising organization (of about 2500) of Vatican lovers, had a 30th anniversary gala this year. The guests, art loving philanthropists, were mostly from the US; They had become excited after seeing a traveling exhibit of Vatican treasures. For only $1900 a person, they enjoyed five days of touring, VIP treatment, lectures on museum restoration, catered dinners in museum galleries, question and answer periods with top official in the Secretariat about Vatican reform, vespers service in the Sistine Chapel – and even a one-on-one with Pope Francis himself.