Modest dress for Church

Dresses that hit the top of the knees are fine for most churches. The Vatican is my only concern. Taking a wrap of some sort is indeed an option. Many others do exactly that and no one in the Church will pay you any notice.

Acc Wether forecast is showing mid 70s. Maybe you could wear light-weight leggings.

I visited many churches in Italy; I only once saw a young woman stopped entering until she covered up when wearing a spaghetti strap top. It was funny to watch as the guard was not making himself clear as to why she could not enter but with hand gestures she understood.

May I suggest capris? Another poster suggested leggings under the skirt; I have several capri/just under the knee leggings for summer.

Enjoy Italy.

I think the confusion here is "to the knee". Not a lot of dresses go all the way below the knee, except for full length maxi ones. And those are often too long for shorter people. Many casual dresses are "knee length" which means somewhere in the vicinity of the top of the knee. Technically not "covering" 100% of the knee. So....are these ok in Italy? They are fine in Spain, and I have worn them in Italy but I can't recall details.

A scarf as a makeshift skirt will look silly but is a reasonable option. I've seen it done over shorts. Or I saw one lady in a very short dress put on a pair of over-the-knee bike shorts/leggings under her dress. There are options.

We were in Rome in May last year, which could be the same weather as October and I wore a shorter summer thin dress, sleeveless and a pair of 3/4 length black tights with black flats. I carry a short thin sweater wrap with me and use this for covering shoulders in the Vatican and St Peters, (both very hot inside) but all the other churches were fine with almost anything. I never had a dress or skirt that went to the knee for any areas in Rome and it seemed fine. Just be normally modest. A Pashmina used as a skirt if needed is fine but a light silk type larger scarf would be fine as well and doubles as a dressier piece for cooler evening strolls and dinner.

I was in Rome last week and yes they stopped females and they had to cover legs and shoulders. Also happened in Florence. Just happens the vendors sells scarves that are long and a woman wrapped it around her waist and the other around her shoulders. In my humble opinion pretty outdated policies.