God Doesn't Like Knees or Shoulders by jungles
Appropriate dress is required to visit any church in Rome. This means, essentially, that you must cover your knees and your shoulders. For women, tops cannot be sleeveless, and skirts or long shorts must fall at least below the knee. For men, it's best to wear full-length pants. If you want to wear sleeveless tops when walking around in the heat, you can bring a shawl to throw over your shoulders when you visit churches. There will probably not be anyone to stop you from walking into the smaller churches dressed inappropriately, though of course you should adhere to the rules out of respect anyway. To enter St. Peter's Basilica you will have to pass about a dozen hawk-eyed guards, and there's no way you'll get past them without proper attire. Some of the souvenir shops around the Vatican have capitalised on this and now sell throw-away, paper pants to desperate tourists. Don't waste your money on paper pants; come prepared. To visit most of the Vatican museums you can wear what you like, but when you get to the Sistine Chapel the same rules apply, so unless you want to miss the chapel you should cover knees and shoulders when going to the museums as well.
