Visitors to St Peter’s Basilica have always had to wear “appropriate” clothing, usually defined as no shorts for men and no very short skirts, low necklines or uncovered shoulders for women but in recent years people have been able to dress more or less as they liked in other parts of the Vatican City.
Yesterday, however, locals and tourists alike were surprised when Swiss Guards at the customs point marking the City of Rome’s boundary with the Vatican City began pulling aside people they regarded as scantily dressed, reports ANSA.
At first locals, who often use the Vatican City pharmacy because it is slightly cheaper, scrambled to produce papers and permits but were then told that their clothing was the problem.
Some women tourists quickly purchased shawls or scarves from nearby stands whilst some of the men went off to buy trousers but one local woman stood her ground, saying that, in view of all the recent scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church, it was ridiculous for the guards to suddenly start clamping down on women in sleeveless dresses. The guards eventually allowed her through.
In the 1960s the rule that a woman should wear a head covering to enter a Catholic church was relaxed.
Have you ever been refused entry into a church in Italy because of your clothes?
