We will be visiting Italy (first time) for two weeks in May. I'm aware of the requirements for clothes when visiting St. Peters and assumed this would apply for all churches. However in watching videos, I am seeing tourists wearing shorts, sleeveless tops, etc. for some of the lesser known cathedrals. Does the knees and shoulders covered guideline apply mainly for the "big" cathedrals?
Posted by
The Heartland USA
9025 posts
dmwacu, modesty in dress is supposed to be followed in all Catholic Churches, everywhere. Kind of like taking your shoes off in a mosque or wearing a yarmulke in a synagogue. It's just not every church can afford to have bouncers at the door thumping the disrespectful all day every day. And even the church members decide their comfort is more important than custom. So it's another one of those things that people get away with and assume no one cares.
Posted by
2817 posts
I think it is variable. We were in Italy in August 2021 during a heat wave. My son’s girl friend had bare shoulders and repeatedly had to wear a jacket to cover up. They seemed to ignore longish shorts though (above knee but not short). This was consistent across churches.
Posted by
Los Angeles by way of Providence and Rome
627 posts
In a word, yes. The only churches where I've seen people turned away were St. Peter's and the Pantheon (and interestingly, at the Pantheon I've actually seen a man denied entrance due to his skimpy top!). In my experience no one cares about knees, and the concern is mainly about sundresses that leave the back as well as shoulders exposed. Just stuff a scarf into your bag, and you will be fine.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32363 posts
From what I've seen, the rule about shoulders, arms and knees being covered applies in most (all?) Churches in Italy. However due to lack of staff or whatever, it doesn't always seem to be enforced. When visiting St. Peter's I've seen people being screamed at angrily for not having shoulders covered. In the Duomo in Siena, I watched a group of University aged males who were wearing sleeveless T-shirts being provided with "paper tablecloths" to cover. It would be prudent to dress appropriately or at least take along something to cover with.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
7886 posts
The graphic showing knees and shoulders covered for males and females is at many doors of Italian churches. As a sign of respect, I would follow it regardless of what others are wearing.
I have seen people stopped in the line at the Milan Duomo, and the guard motioned that they had to go over to the shop, buy the paper cover and then get back into the line to wait again. Since the guard was towards the front of the line and the first graphic as you enter the line was ignored, that made a much larger impact on their overall wait time.
Posted by
Milan, Italy
299 posts
Not in all churches, the most touristic ones that have people at the entrance, but smaller churches have no dressing rules.
And not every Catholic church everywhere has these dressing guidelines, from what I've experiences, coming from a very Catholic country, where you can go into a church wearing whatever you want to wear, these rules exist only in Italy.
When I was getting married, I bought my dress in Italy, and everyone was so worried with what I was going to wear as a cover for my shoulders, hard to explain that not only it wasn't winter in my country in January, but also that I didn't need to cover my shoulders at all