Vatican City

Is Vatican City safe to visit?

Yes. Serious crime inside the Vatican is almost unheard of, and few places in Europe are watched as closely: every entrance to the walled state is guarded by the Vatican Gendarmerie or the Swiss Guard, and bags are screened before St Peter's Basilica and the Museums. The risks a visitor actually meets are Rome's risks, at the edge of the border: pickpockets in the crowds, heat in queues that can last hours, and traffic on the way in. We score Vatican City 85, a point above Italy (84), which surrounds it, and below San Marino (88).

No government publishes separate advice for it. The UK's Italy advice says it "also covers Vatican City", and the US covers Italy, the Holy See and San Marino on one country page; its Italy advisory is Level 2 for terrorism (10 September 2026). Canada has no Vatican page, and its Italy advice is a high degree of caution (22 October 2026). So read the Italy advice before you go.

Why there are almost no numbers

Vatican City is 0.44 km² with 882 residents, according to the Governorate's figures for the end of 2024. It has 618 citizens, but only 246 of them live inside the walls, 104 of those in the Swiss Guard. UNODC and WHO publish no homicide or road estimates for it, and the state does not publish a crime total. With so few residents, a single case would distort any rate. The best-known killing on Vatican soil shows the problem: in May 1998 the commander of the Swiss Guard and his wife were shot dead, and the Vatican's inquiry found that a young guardsman killed them and then himself. That one night would give a homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary in the hundreds per 100,000 for that year.

So our scores lean on what is known: the guarding of the state itself, Rome's 26 homicides in 2023, which is under 1 per 100,000, and Italy's rate of 0.57. Confidence is medium for that reason.

Who polices St Peter's Square?

This catches many visitors out. Under the 1929 Lateran Treaty, St Peter's Square is part of Vatican City but stays open to the public and under the powers of the Italian police, which stop at the foot of the Basilica steps. The border is a strip of travertine in the paving between the ends of Bernini's colonnade. Outside that line you are in Rome; inside the square, the police you see are mostly Italian; inside the Basilica, the Museums and the rest of the walls, the Vatican Gendarmerie is in charge.

In practice that means a theft in the square is reported to the Italian police or on 112, the same as anywhere in Rome. In the Museums, report it at a security point; items found and not claimed by the end of the day go to the Gendarmerie.

Pickpockets on the way to St Peter's

The theft risk around the Vatican is the same one our Rome page describes. The US says petty crime is common at Italy's tourist sites and on public transport, and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary names city centres and major attractions. Around the Vatican, the hot spots are:

• Bus 64 from Termini to St Peter's, packed with tourists all day.
• Ottaviano station on metro line A, the usual stop for the Museums, where thieves work the doors.
• The Museums queue along the walls, where people stand close together for a long time.
• St Peter's Square and Via della Conciliazione during papal audiences, Masses and other big events.

Book Museums tickets only on the official Vatican Museums website, and be wary of people in the queue offering to sell you a faster way in. Keep your phone in a front pocket and your bag zipped and in front of you.

The crowds can be huge. The 2025 Jubilee brought more than 33.4 million pilgrims to Rome, according to the Dicastery for Evangelisation, against a forecast of 31.7 million. Expect long security queues at any major papal event and arrive early.

Terrorism and big events

There is no armed conflict here, and UCDP's conflict data has no entry for the Vatican; Italy around it recorded no conflict deaths in 2016–2025. The concern is terrorism. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says attacks in Italy cannot be ruled out, and the US rates Italy Level 2 for terrorism. The seat of the Catholic Church, with the Pope appearing before tens of thousands of people, is an obvious symbolic target, which is why we score conflict below Italy's. Security is visible and heavy: everyone going into St Peter's Basilica passes Italian police metal detectors at the colonnade, and big events add more checks.

Heat, health and dress code

There is no hospital inside the walls, but Rome's hospitals are minutes away and the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary's Italy advice says a GHIC or EHIC gives access to state care in Italy. The health risk most visitors meet is summer heat: the queue for the Museums or the Basilica can mean an hour or more in the sun. Go early, carry water and refill it at Rome's street fountains.

The Vatican Museums say entry to the Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica and the Gardens is only for people dressed appropriately: no sleeveless or low-cut tops, no shorts above the knee, no miniskirts, no hats. Large bags and rucksacks go in the free cloakroom, and you cannot collect them from the Basilica, so do not leave a bag in the Museums if you plan to walk on into St Peter's.

How we scored it

Violent crime (95) is the strongest factor, on the state's guarding and the low rates in Rome and Italy, since no Vatican series exists. Road safety (88) and health (88) follow Italy, with roads near the top of their band because the state itself is almost car-free; we score roads on Italy's WHO 2023 estimate because the Vatican has neither a WHO estimateWHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary nor national figures. Natural hazards (82) match Rome's. Conflict (80) sits below Italy for the terrorism threat to a symbolic target, and petty crime (60) is the weakest factor, for the pickpockets in the crowds around the border. The weighted average is 85.