Hi,
I have never been to Rome before but I will be visiting next July 2025 (jubilee!).
Question: Do I need to show a passport to enter Vatican City? Is a passport required for entry to St. Peter's? The Vatican Museums?
I am hesitant to walk around Rome with my passport and would prefer to leave it at my hotel in a safe.
Thanks,
Ryan
Do a forum search as this topic comes up a lot
You are required by law to carry your passport ( it is your legit ID) and I believe you will need to show to enter the Vatican museums as well as other sites like Colosseum
Here is a recent thread
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/passports-in-rome-italy
Your passport is safest carried on your person well hidden in a money belt
We have been randomly asked to show our passports -at train station and just on the street
I was in Rome last month. I carried my passport with me at all times. I was never asked for it at the Vatican or anywhere else.
No. I was in Rome and Vatican City in Sept. 2022: Nobody asked for a passport to cross the "border".
If you want an interesting border-crossing experience, think about visiting the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, which is relatively close to the Colosseum. It's the first "Vatican" (consecrated in 324) but lies outside of Vatican City. In front of the church, there are a series of bollards to mark the transition from Italy to Vatican. Visitors cross borders when they enter St. John Lateran just like they do when visiting Vatican City. It's the only archbasilica in the world.
Beyond the border-crossing trivia, it's a stunning church that was built over a period of 1,400 years. If you visit, make sure to see the Holy Stairs in the baptistry, which stands apart from the archbasilica. The stairs that form the staircase once led to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem and which, therefore, were sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus Christ during His Passion.
More broadly, I visited five city churches in Rome on my most recent visit. There are some incredibly beautiful ones: You don't where to look because they are so stunning. See Rick's book for his church tour, which lists five or so churches outside the Vatican worth visiting.
Check your Vatican Museum ticket confirmation very carefully. I think I recall the Museums now have a policy of requiring ticket purchasers to show passports when they pick up their tickets on site. (I could be wrong about that.) That doesn't mean every visitor is asked to do so, but if they want to see your passport and you don't have it, you'd probably miss out on visiting the Museums.
It seems to be true that Italian law requires everyone to carry a national identity document, which for an American is a passport. You can decide whether you want to ignore that law.
As was mentioned above, it is the law to have a federally issued ID document with you. A driver's license is not that. I've never been asked, but last year we watched police randomly asking for ID as people got off the train.
There is no passport control to cross the border from/to Italy to anywhere else bordering Italy. But, regardless of whether you are crossing borders or not, carrying ID at all times is mandatory also for Italians.
