Visiting St. Peter’s Basilica: entry, dome and what to see

The basilica’s own site recommends booking to avoid long queues. Bookings are made on basilicasanpietro.va, whose “Book your visit” page leads to the official booking service.

Two ways in:

• With a booking: the Digital Audio Guide gives access through a dedicated entrance route. It runs on your smartphone, with your own earphones, in seven languages.
• Without one: you can still rent the analog audio guide at the Portico Desk before entering, in eleven languages, but it does not include the dedicated route.

If an extraordinary liturgical celebration or an event of the Holy See closes the basilica, you may be told within 24 hours before the visit, and the booking is then fully refunded.

St. Peter’s is separate from the Vatican Museums: the museums’ ticket covers the museums and the Sistine Chapel, which stands directly north of the basilica, and the basilica is entered from St. Peter’s Square. The museums remind visitors who continue to the basilica not to leave baggage in their cloakroom.

Climbing the dome

With either dome ticket, you choose the time for the dome only. The basilica slot is assigned automatically, one hour before or one hour after, depending on the expected flow, and the confirmation e-mail tells you which visit comes first.

• The stairs page advises against the climb for people with heart or respiratory conditions, claustrophobia or vertigo, pregnant women and anyone with reduced mobility.
• During extraordinary celebrations, the inner ring may be closed.

Pétros ení in the Octagonal Halls

Pétros ení (“Peter is here”) is a digital exhibition on the apostle and on how the basilica grew over the centuries. It is installed in the Octagonal Halls, inside one of the piers that carry the dome, restored and opened to the public for the first time for this exhibition. The meeting point is in the Welcome Area, just after the Testimonium booth, groups are of at most 14 people, and entry after the booked time is not allowed.

The dome and Pétros ení keep their own seasonal hours, listed on the official opening-hours page. The booking pages recommend all these visits from age six, and visitors up to 17 must be accompanied by an adult.

For the guided tour of the basilica, you ask for a date and slot, but they are indicative: the Visits Office sets the time according to availability, and you check the confirmation before paying. Tours last one hour, with groups of about 20 per language, in English or Italian, and a form covers other languages. Two official pages give different times for these tours, so take the schedule from your confirmation.

The Vatican Necropolis lies under the Vatican Grottoes, between three and eleven meters below the floor of the central nave. Constantine covered this Roman cemetery with his basilica in the fourth century, which ended its use but preserved it. Down there you can retrace the ancient earthen road that led to St. Peter’s tomb.

Temperature and humidity are different underground, and the Fabbrica advises people with claustrophobia, or with conditions they could worsen, not to take part.

The Vatican Grottoes, on the level between the necropolis and the basilica, hold the tombs of many popes, and visiting them is free.

Keep your phone silent: the Visits page goes further and forbids using it. On photography the official pages disagree. The FAQ allows photos without flash, respecting celebrations and other visitors, while the “Rules for the common good” ask you not to take photos at all, even for personal use. The Sampietrini, the basilica’s custodians, are the people to ask on the spot.

The popes kept the tradition that placed the tomb of St. Peter at the center, and it lies beneath the main altar. That nave hides much of the dome when you approach from the square, so the dome reads best from a distance.

Above the papal altar stands Bernini’s baldachin, a bronze canopy 28.74 meters tall, on four twisted columns inspired by ancient columns of the old basilica and decorated with bees, the emblem of Urban VIII. In front of the altar, the Confessio opens downward so that the tomb can be seen from above.

Look up into the dome and its mosaics. The dome tickets include the inner ring, and the booking pages promise a close look at these mosaics.

At the far end, in the apse, Bernini’s ensemble raises the Chair of Saint Peter on four bronze Doctors of the Church, beneath a window of yellow alabaster with the dove of the Holy Spirit. The official FAQ puts a visit at one to two hours, depending on your interest.