Dress Code at Vatican
 

Posters are always asking what to wear to Europe. Here's from CBS news on vendors selling paper wraps as Vatican police are rejecting people with bare legs and shoulders.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in563585.shtml

Must be hot in Italy this year! ((#))
B-)

We also saw these paper wraps in St. Anthony's in Padua.

?The information we got was that the dress code only applied when the pope was here,? said Becky Haskin, 44, visiting from Fort Worth, Texas, with three friends.

I don't know where Becky got her information. Certainly not from this board or any reputable guidebook. Right here on Fodors (and in the books as well, of course): "Note: Persons wearing shorts, miniskirts, sleeveless T-shirts, or other revealing clothing will not be permitted to enter."

http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgr...=full&pg=6

Just returned from Rome. Yes, the paper shaws are very real! You will be required to cover your entire body if you arrive sleeveless or with your knees showing! And, "hot" isn't an adequate word for describing the temperature!

It just says that miniskirts are not permitted. So skirts are OK then, right? Could men wearing skirts, or say kilts, get in, I wonder? Or is any bare leg on men forbidden?

Men either need to wear long pants, buy paper pants or wait outside for their traveling companions. Women should cover their shoulders but from what I saw, it was optional. Kids were permitted to enter in shorts and sleevless. My kids are still laughing at the sight of my crazy Italian husband walking around in black paper pants that were two sizes too small. They called him the "Tin Man".

I'm going to Rome next week. I think I'll wear my linen bathrobe & flip flops... Ciao!!

No shorts, no sleeveless tee-shirts, no low-necked or very short dress.
This has always been the "rule" at Vatican, or in many of the touristic churches in Italy (saw this happening again two weeks again at San Marco basilica in Venice!).

I don't understand what the kerfufle is about. It is just common sense to show some respect and cover yourselves when travelling to see the Vatican, a mosque, a Hindu/Buddhist temple or a synagogue.

I think that this is a very unfair article - the dress code should not come as a shock to anyone. At the Vatican, you will be visiting a place of worship and should show proper respect by dressing appropriately. In any case, covering shoulders and knees has always been the rule in The Vatican, and in other churches and places of worship in Italy and elsewhere - if people don't want to do so, then they should stick to museums and other open-air sights, or just go to the beach. By the way, it is compulsory to cover shoulders and knees when visiting the Victor Emmanuele monument in Rome also - couldn't really work out why this was so, since it is a secular monument.

I wonder about kilts as well, but guess that it would be fine, since once a male travelling companion donned my sarong (blue with big yellow flowers - a hoot!) and was admitted without any fuss. He looked more respectable in his walking shorts, though.

Unfortunately, as we continue to be reminded, not all persons view a "place of worship" in quite the same way. The so-called "dress code" for churches has been fairly well-known for decades but of course when it's a slow day in Rome and you have to file SOME kind of "news" story, then things like this get hyped again.
The quoted Ms. Haskin, obviously, is not a Fodorite or she would most certainly have known better!

Coat and tie for men, nice top for women. Since you'll be standing in the square and the Pope will be looking down, plus his eyesight is suspect, you're safe in wearing shorts, string bikini or coming au naturel. Footwear -whatever's comfy - marble has no give.

Re: "Men either need to wear long pants, buy paper pants or wait outside for their traveling companions. Women should cover their shoulders but from what I saw, it was optional."

Thanks. So, if this is all about showing respect (to worshippers, rather than God, I presume) what I don't understand is why the rules are different for men and women. Why is it considered disrepectful for men to show bare legs below the knee or bare shoulders, but not considered disrespectful for women do to the same?

Shrug-Don't know. At the entrance, I was handed a "loaner" shawl for my bare shoulders and my male companion a yamaka before entering David's tomb in Israel. Where you stand depends on where you sit (or visit)!

ter2000 is quite wise. I'd put it this way. If you were to meet the president or the prime minister or the queen or king or prince, would you dress in bermuda shorts or a mini-skirt? Out of respect, you would most likely try to look your best. Though I might not have the theology down pat, we Catholics believe in the real presence of the Lord at the Tabernacle. Thus, when we are in His presence, we should dress respectfully. Visitors to a Catholic Church should be respectful of their hosts.

Just got back from Rome too, and it was indeed very hot! Saw a man wrap a hot pink tie-dyed pareo or large scarf around his waist and try to get in and was humiliated by the guard at St. Peter's. I couldn't help but snicker...

I never travel without my pants with the zip off legs. I don't usually have to put them back on during the day but it is nice to be able to switch back and forth for what ever reason.

Well, Capo, it has been common practice for some time now for women to wear dresses and skirts. A man wearing shorts is considered to be dressed casually. It is what the Vatican wants, so comply if you want to go in.

I don't think any women in Italy own a pair of shorts! I saw none wearing them. I put a pair on my first day, and ended up taking them off and putting on capris. If you are going to St. Peter's, definitely cover up, they will turn you down. We saw a lot men being turned down.