Are reservations required to enter St. Peter's?

No, there are no fees for the basilica or for the piazza (not plaza in Italy). There are restrictions however. Male and female you must be fully clothed with no flesh showing except perhaps your face, hands and possibly ankles. Don't wear shorts and women should not wear anything that exposes their shoulders, bust or legs. You will not be allowed in. Period. You will have to pass thru a metal detector and you may have any bags searched. Such is the modern world.

cml

Rich, if you have reserved tickets for the Vatican museum you will end up in St Peter's if you are on a tour...at least that is what we did a few weeks ago. St Peter's is usually included in any tour.

You can walk around the piazza and enjoy all the statues, the fountain and the directional markers. Try to take pictures of the Swiss guards!

Remember that you can drink the water in any of the fountains in Rome...take a water bottle to avoid spending big bucks on bottled water!

Ciao!

And if you're going through the Vatican Museum, don't forget Rick Steves' tip once you get to the Sistine Chapel at the end. Drift over to the little door that's in the corner directly opposite of where you come in. That's the shortcut that tour groups take to go directly into St. Peter's. Fall in with one of the groups as if you belong with them, and just tag along. Otherwise you have to go back outside and get in the queue with everybody else. (We're as Anglo-looking as possible and we went through with a Japanese tour group. No one looked at us twice.)

Also, be sure to go down to see the tombs of the popes. John Paul II is very simple and beautiful. We also took the elevator up to the inside of the dome. I stayed at that level outside and my husband climbed the steps to the very top.
If you tour group rushes through the Sistene Chapel and you would like to stay longer. Linger and take the exit Rick and other's recommend. You will got down the steps instead of all the way back to the front of the Vatican Museum. My husband did that, but I stayed with the group. There was not much more to see in the museum after the Sistine Chapel. My husband turned his earphone back at the Vatican Post Office. I stayed with our group and boarded a bus that just took us to a souvier shop for 45 minutes and then dropped me near my hotel.
Wed are when the Pope has audiences. You need to reserve tickets if interested in that.

How do you "reserve" tickets to the Vatican Museum. Are you talking about a tour group? thanks

To Tim in Knoxville: I went through www.rome-museum.com. They also have sites for museums in Florence, Milan, and Venice.

I've never reserved and been just fine.

Hey Rich, I went to the site to check it out. It looks like there is a 10.50 Euro surcharge for each pre-booked ticket. We have a group of 20 so that would be an extra 210 Euro...I'll have to give that some thought. Thanks for the info.

It may be too late to get tickets but the Scavi Tour is excellent. We were just in Rome in November and visited St. Peter's on a Wednesday which was not the best day since there was an audience with the Pope and we had a long wait and security kept people from the plaza for a very long time. Not sure if this is what happens every Wednesday.

Reservations issue has been answered, but some tips, going early in the morning beats the crowd and makes the experience much more magical. Dress is not quite as restricted as mentioned, and a December visit will by default put you in proper attire. Generally, covered shoulders and dress/pants below the knees are sufficient.

In regards to the Scavi tour it's worth trying to sneak in on a tour...it was the highlight of my 2-week Italy trip. We were there in January and did not have reservations, but we went to the Scavi office in the morning and asked about the tour. They put us on an English language tour that afternoon! I've also been told it's even worth it to get on a tour in another language just to be able to see the excavations...you can research what you saw before or after.

Most museums in Italy require tickets to enter. If you're part of a tour group, the tour group leader will have arranged for the tickets. If not, you need to arrange for them yourself. You will want to do this in advance. You can do this either online or ask your hotel to arrange for them for you. Otherwise, you have to stand in the longer line once you get there so that you can get a ticket to get in, and it could take hours, depending on the museum. (The shorter line will be for people who reserved their tickets ahead of time. You want to be one of those people.)

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my question. This will be our first trip to Italy and we are really looking forward to it.