  The Vela pulsar is among a number of pulsars which show detectable optical
pulsations. We performed optical observations of this pulsar in January and
December 2009 with the Iqueye instrument mounted at the ESO 3.5 m New
Technology Telescope. Our aim was to perform phase fitting of the Iqueye data,
and to measure the optical pulse profile of the Vela pulsar at high time
resolution, its absolute phase and rotational period. We calculated for the
first time an independent optical timing solution and obtained the most
detailed optical pulse profile available to date. Iqueye detected a distinct
narrow component on the top of one of the two main optical peaks, which was not
resolved in previous observations, and a third statistically significant
optical peak not aligned with the radio one. The quality of the Iqueye data
allowed us to determine the relative time of arrival of the
radio-optical-gamma-ray peaks with an accuracy of a fraction of a millisecond.
We compare the shape of the Iqueye pulse profile with that observed in other
energy bands and discuss its complex multi-wavelength structure.
