St Peter's Basilica Dress Code and Hours

St Peter’s Basilica is open every day from 7:00 to 19:00 from 26 October 2026 to 28 March 2027, and entry is free (Fabbrica di San Pietro, checked November 2026). Dress as for any church: shoulders covered, and trousers or skirts below the knee. The Basilica’s rules also exclude shorts, miniskirts and sleeveless tops, and ask you to take off your hat inside. There is no cloakroom.

Opening hours, November 2026

Hours from the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Excavations Office and the Vatican Museums, read November 2026. The Fabbrica’s hours pages give the Basilica and the Dome one dated winter period, 26 October 2026 to 28 March 2027.

On Sundays the Basilica’s own pages give two different windows for its guided visits, so if Sunday is your day, check its opening-hours page before you set out.

What to wear

The Basilica’s dress code asks for covered shoulders and for trousers or skirts below the knee, and its rules page adds no sleeveless tops and no hats. That rules out shorts, miniskirts and vest tops, summer or winter. A scarf or a light shirt over a sleeveless top solves the shoulders; for the knees, long trousers or a skirt below the knee are the only safe choice. It is a working church, and the code is about respect for the people inside it as much as for the building: Mass is celebrated there, and some visitors come only to pray.

The security check and what not to bring

Every visitor passes a security check run by the Italian State Police, in the right-hand curve of the Colonnade as you face the Basilica. The Basilica also marks a separate Prayer Route entrance on Via di Porta Angelica. Leave behind what the Fabbrica does not allow in: food and drink, bulky bags (there is no cloakroom), animals, and tripods or selfie sticks; smoking is not allowed. On photography the Basilica’s own pages disagree, so follow what the staff ask on the day, and never use a flash.

A combined tour whose option includes the Basilica goes in from the Sistine Chapel instead, but it does not skip security: that check happens at the Museums entrance.

When access is cancelled

The Fabbrica warns that visitor access may be cancelled for Holy See celebrations or when a Wednesday general audience runs over, and it names Wednesday and Sunday, with the Angelus at noon, as its busiest days. It does not print a weekly closure. One-off changes appear in its notices: on 26 and 27 June 2026 the opening was put back to 9:00 for a consistory, and none was listed for November 2026 when checked. The Holy See’s calendar lists papal Masses in the Basilica on Thursday 5 November 2026 at 9:00 and on Wednesday 18 November at 17:00, the 400th anniversary of its dedication; what they do to visitor access is not stated.

The Vatican Museums keep their own closed days, among them 8, 25 and 26 December, and post temporary closures on their hours page. If you are visiting near a feast day, check both the Basilica’s notices and the Museums’ page. Is a St Peter’s Basilica tour worth it? covers what you get by walking in, and the Dome climb the climb above the church.