Vatican expands visitor experience at St. Peter's Basilica to mark 400th anniversary

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Fancy a pizza with a view?

The Vatican is marking the 400th anniversary of the consecration of St. Peter’s Basilica with a host of visitor-friendly initiatives, including expanding access to its spectacular terrace and its snack bar in the shadow of Michelangelo’s great dome.

The Vatican on Monday outlined its plans to make better use of St. Peter’s and better redistribute the millions of people who pass through it each year, while at the same time protecting its artistic treasures.

Among the initiatives are a new online reservation system, to lessen the oftentimes hourslong wait to get into the basilica, and simultaneous translations for Masses in up to 60 languages. In addition, a new permanent exhibition tracing the history of the basilica is opening on the terrace, alongside an expanded snack bar for hungry pilgrims.

Recent reports in the Italian media about a bistro on the basilica’s terrace generated no shortage of raised eyebrows, amid questions about whether such a sacred place — the basilica houses the tomb of St. Peter -- should be serving pizzas to tourists on the roof.

The existing snack bar is being nearly doubled in size.

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti insisted Monday it was perfectly acceptable to provide a sandwich or drink, alongside bathrooms, to visitors to the basilica, especially those who have exerted themselves to visit the cupola of St. Peter’s, which was designed by Michelangelo.

To honor the Renaissance master is a related initiative: a new font available in Microsoft Office, entitled “Michelangelus,” is styled using his actual penmanship.

The basilica initiatives, sponsored by Italian energy giant ENI, are being rolled out to commemorate consecration in 1626 by Pope Urban VIII of St. Peter’s, which replaced an earlier basilica.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A rendering of St. Peter's Basilica is displayed during an exhibition titled "Ultra Visibilia" on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the basilica's dedication at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter and President of the Fabric of St. Peter, talks to journalists during a press conference presenting the Initiatives for the 400th anniversary of the dedication of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter and President of the Fabric of St. Peter, talks to journalists during a press conference presenting the Initiatives for the 400th anniversary of the dedication of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Journalists attend the opening of an exhibition titled "Ultra Visibilia" on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the dedication of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The entrance to the "Ultra Visibilia" exhibition on St. Peter's Terrace is shown on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the dedication of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Denny Hamlin has a plan for improving racing at Daytona International Speedway, and it involves going faster.

He already has spoken to NASCAR executives about it, too.

Hamlin shared his idea for fixing the Daytona 500, which has become a fuel-mileage event since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022, with everyone else after celebrating his first victory as a team owner in “The Great American Race.”

“There’s a way, but we’re going to have to increase the speeds by a lot,” said Hamlin, who finished 31st in the 500 on Sunday but made it to victory lane with Tyler Reddick at 23XI Racing. “You’re going to make it where handling matters. That’s going to spread the field, that’s going to make it to where … it’ll look a little more like racing from the past.”

The latest iteration of NASCAR’s stock car is a safer version of anything previously seen in the series. But it also delivers slower laps at superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega and leaves cars bunched up like never before.

“As long as (NASCAR’s) insurance company is OK with it, you’re going to have to speed up the cars because right now we’re so planted in the racetrack that we could just run in this really tight pack,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin met with NASCAR earlier this week and discussed letting teams devise a racing package they could test during the exhibition Clash if it returns to Daytona next year. If it works, the tweaks could potentially be rolled out before 2028.

“You won’t see any fuel saving,” Hamlin said. “You’re just going to see people hanging on. That would be the only fix.”

Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, was less confident that the fuel-mileage strategy would be altered.

“I doubt there’s a fix to it because we’re just going to figure out the next way to exploit it, and I don’t know that it needs to be fixed,” Scott said. “It would be like asking if you need to change how chess is played.”

With the evolution of the Cup Series car creating little chance of manipulating parts and pieces, teams now rely more on making up spots on pit road on race day. They put new tires on less often and try to save fuel by running less-than-full throttle. The end result is a scenario that takes less time to fill gas tanks during stops.

But it also can create lulls in the early and middle parts of race stages.

“On one hand, it’s good because our strategy worked out perfectly,” said 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished second Sunday. “We stuck to it. It was brutal riding around there for a while. Not sure what the Toyotas were doing, but I think that made the race pretty boring there for a while for the fans. It was chaos after they pitted.”

Hamlin’s idea could work. It’s at least worth considering.

“Everybody is trying to react off each other and figure out a way to get in the front at the right time, and that depends on whether cautions fly,” Scott said. “… To me, from where we stand, that’s a very enjoyable part of it.”

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Riley Herbst, (35), Justin Allgaier, (40), Todd Gilliland, (34), John Hunter Nemechek, (42) and Ryan Blaney, (12) collide during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Cars crash on the checkered flag during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Denny Hamlin, (11), Bubba Wallace, (23) and Chase Briscoe, (19) run during the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)