I originally planned to visit St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning because I assumed it would be less crowded.
The day before, I checked the entrance around 17:00 and saw an extremely long line stretching back with hundreds of people. That made me rethink the plan.
Later that same evening, I checked again near closing time and noticed something surprising. The line was very short, only around 10 to 15 people.
I learned that the basilica closes around 19:10 to 19:15, but visitors are still allowed inside until around 20:00.
So the next day, I arrived at about 18:50. Security took only a couple of minutes, and I had around an hour inside the basilica.
The experience was completely different from earlier in the day. It was quiet and almost empty inside, with only a small number of people around.
For me, this timing worked much better than trying to go early in the morning, at least based on my experience in early June.
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