St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, which has been closed to tourists for two months due to coronavirus containment, will reopen to visitors on Monday, the Vatican press room announced on Friday.
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The largest Catholic sanctuary in the world
The famous Saint-Pierre square, which gives access to the basilica, the largest Catholic sanctuary in the world, will therefore also be reopened to the public. Since the start of the pandemic, the Vatican State, an enclave in the middle of Rome, has decided to apply the same health rules as Italy. Saint Peter's Basilica, as well as three other papal basilicas dependent on the Pope, should therefore follow a recommendation from the Italian Ministry of the Interior limiting the attendance at a religious celebration in a closed place of worship to a maximum of 200 people.
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Closed since March 10
Friday morning, a cleaning team invested the huge basilica of 23,000 m² to disinfect it. This holy place, also a temple of mass tourism, had been closed to tourists on March 10, the day of the beginning of the confinement of all of Italy, a major center of spread of the coronavirus which left more than 31,000 dead in the peninsula.