I just received a reservation for the Scavi tour and wonder about how many stairs, in general ( not specifically) and how tight the environment is. I am taking mom and wonder if this event is worthwhile for someone who struggles with stairs, a bit and also is somewhat claustrophobic. thanks.

There aren't many stairs as I recall, however, if someone has claustrophobia, I would avoid it. The area is humid and pretty tight.

yes, and they don't allow children because they absolutely don't want anyone touching the walls of this ancient site

If I remember right you enter down a slightly inclined ramp which puts you 2 short levels/floors below the basilica.
Towards the end you go up 1 level to the corridor with the Pope's tombs where the tour ends. Go up 1 more level and you are inside the basilica.
As I mentioned these are short levels/floors somewhat like a house in vertical distance.
Regards, Walter

I just took the Scavi tour 2 weeks ago in Rome. There are not a lot of stairs. I agree with Walter, at most you would climb up or down a flight of stairs equal to 1 story. Then you would stop for several minutes and listen to the tour guide.

I do have some warnings about the tightness of the space and the conditions.

First: The area is quite humid. Our tour guide said that the rooms are kept near 90% humidity for preservation reasons. However, the temperature is kep near 75F (just guessing) so you will not sweat. I was fairly comfortable in pants and a short sleeve sweater, despite the humidity.

Second, some of the hallways and stairs can be rather narrow. Some of the ceilings are somewhat low (around 7 feet - again guessing).

During my tour, one woman had to leave the tour early on because she was claustrophobic. About 2/3 of the way through the tour, another woman fainted. She said that she had the stomach flu and hadn't eaten any breakfast, and I am guessing the humidity must have been too much for her.

That said, the tour guide was very professional and helpful. She escorted the first claustrophic woman back to the entrance and proceeded with our tour. When the second woman fainted, she called upstairs (there are several telephones in the Scavi area) and asked her coworker to bring down water. The coworker later escorted the second woman out of the Scavi, while our guide continued with the tour.

I would recommend that you go ahead and try to attend the tour. It was very interesting and a highlight of our 2 week trip. If your mother can not handle the conditions, I'm sure that the guides will be prepared to escort her out.

Baymtnman, how low ago did you request your Scavi Tour reservation? It's been more than a month since I received their "we received your request" email and I havent heard back from them! I'm getting a little worried (our trip is in December so I guess we have time to wait).

It took the folks about three weeks or so to send the confirmation, which kinda surprised me, as I have heard this is rather quick response.

Thanks baymtnman. Their auto-response to my reservation request was dated 9/11. I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer!

You may find this article interesting as well: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/10/mueller.htm

Good news - I received our Scavi tour confirmation today!

9/10 - emailed them requesting reservation
9/11 - they emailed back confirming receipt of reservation request
10/15 - they emailed with our reservation date/time

baymtnman:

We took the Scavi tour last week and, in our group, there was a couple (man and woman) who were probably in their 70s or so. They came through the tour just fine despite the fact that there are several sets of stairs (although there aren't any instances where there are a lot of stairs at once--maybe 10-15 steps at any one time at most). They were with their children (probably in their late 40s to early 50s) who helped them through in a couple of the spots by holding their arm/hand/whatever.

As for the claustrophobia, it does get a little tight in some spots, but there's never an instance where you're standing in a confined space for any length of time at all. It's more like you have to walk THROUGH some tight passage ways to get to the next spot where you'll stop and stand and listen to the guide.

The one spot the elderly couple absolutely did NOT like is near the end of the tour when you get to the room where you have a view of the actual tomb of St. Peter. The flooring in that room is almost entirely plexiglass; you can see through it to the excavated area below. The space between the plexiglass floor and the ACTUAL ground is probably 5 or 6 feet. The sensation of walking out onto the flooring is very strange . . . kind of scary, even. It's like you're walking on air or something. About half the people in our group absolutely would NOT walk across that floor. I did it, but it was an odd sensation.

All in all, I'd say that if your mother is at ALL interested in this, I'd encourage her to do it. It was one of the highlights of our 3-week-trip. Unless she is really in bad shape and/or VERY claustrophobic, she should be fine.

Good luck,
Jennie

"struggles with stairs"--a good tip from my father who had polio is to go down the stairs backwards. You have more control and if you fall, you're falling forward, not backward.