It would take weeks to do full justice to the overwhelming Vatican Museums, a 15-minute walk around the Vatican walls from the square, so choose the highlights that appeal to you. Besides the Sistine Chapel—with Michelangelo's Last Judgment (1512) on its altar wall and Creation (1535) on its ceiling, plus a veritable who's who of Renaissance greats on the side walls—areas not to miss are the Pinacoteca, with works by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Raphael; the rooms frescoed for Pope Nicholas V by Raphael; and the Pio-Clementino museum with its peerless collection of ancient sculpture. Kids will enjoy the mummies in the Egyptian museum.
Contained within the vast labyrinth of the Vatican Museums (it’s often referred to in the plural because each section is considered a different museum) there are treasures from Egypt, the Near East, and Etruria (the Etruscans pre-dated the ancient Romans in Italy), including some sculptures which the ancient Romans even considered ancient (which is saying something). And of course there’s the Sistine Chapel, perhaps the most famous painted ceiling on earth.