If we have an 8:15 a.m. Vatican Museum reservation will we
 

still be in time for a noon train to Florence. I sure need help on this one since I have no sense of distances. we will be at a hotel on Via Veneto. Guess we really need time from hotel to museum to hotel to train station.

I've learned so much by reading your postings and accessed many websites. In fact because of you all we have reservations at the Borgehese. (sorry for the bad spelling) Many thanks -- and will you are "at it" will you please see the weather cools down by August 14th?

If you don't bother to look at anything, but that sort of makes the museum less interesting.

You'll be rushed in my opinion - I am assuming that you're only visiting the museum and not trying to see St Peters that same day? we took over 3 hours with a guide and were rushed.

Can't be done by folks who want to remaine sane.

Can't you take a later train? There are many that run between Rome and Florence everyday.

The tour given by the Vatican Museum staff lasts two hours. Then, you can exit from the Sistene Chapel's back door directly to the entrance area of St. Peter's, without getting in a massive line. Add another 30 minutes minimum to see St. Peter's (which you must do if you're there, IMHO) and the Pieta.

That puts your schedule at least at 10:45 to leave the Vatican, get to hotel, get to train station. It's do-able, but not preferable.
:)>-

That's a really early reservation! Assuming you actually start at 8:30 or so, and ignore your guide, if you have one, and just walked through the various interesting galleries at your own speed, it would take a couple of hours. That's if you're not interested in the details of what you're seeing. But it may be your only chance to see any of it, which is an important consideration.

Once you've finished you'll need to depend on taxi's I'd think.

From what I've read, July and August are the hottest months. I tended to carry bottled water in a backpack or in a large purse and plan time to sit down and rest if it's too hot.

- Andrys
pbase.com/andrys/italy

I agree with others who say your proposed schedule is awfully tight.
It takes a long time to walk to the Raphael Rooms/Sistine chapel end of the Vatican museums and see these, even without stopping for anything else.
As noted you can exit the Sistine Chapel next to St Peter's if you don't want to go back to see other parts of the museum but whether you do this or go back to the museums entrance you have a walk to get to the street and transportation back to the hotel.
It took our family over 3 hours to see even a small fraction of the Vatican collection -- the S chapel, Raphael rooms, a little bit of the Museum of Modern Religious Art and a fairly quick tour of some of the highlights of the Pinacoteca.

If you get a good guide book to Rome with maps of the city and the museums you will have a better idea of the logistics