In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027. The Vatican Museums are closed on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (29 March), and Easter Sunday is the last Sunday of the month, so it is not a free Sunday: there is none in March 2027. The Borghese Gallery and Castel Sant’Angelo close on Mondays, so on Easter Monday too. The Pope’s Masses are free, requested from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, and the Via Crucis is at the Colosseum on Good Friday evening. The Vatican has not published its 2027 programme, so the times below are 2026’s, which show the usual pattern. Or book a tour: a guided tour with entry, such as the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel tourad (from £54.85), is the fallback for the days the Museums are open and the official slots have gone.
Holy Week 2027, day by day
Easter falls in March in 2027; in 2026 it was 5 April. Closures are from the operators’ own calendars, read on 30 September 2026.
| Date | What changes |
|---|---|
| Fri 19 March | Vatican Museums closed (the feast of St Joseph) |
| Sun 21 March | Palm Sunday: Mass in St Peter’s Square in 2026. Vatican Museums closed |
| Thu 25 March | Holy Thursday: the Chrism Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in the morning, and the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St John Lateran in the evening, in 2026 |
| Fri 26 March | Good Friday: the Passion of the Lord in St Peter’s Basilica at 17:00 and the Via Crucis at the Colosseum at 21:15 in 2026. Vatican Museums open |
| Sat 27 March | Holy Saturday: the Easter Vigil in St Peter’s Basilica at 21:00 in 2026. Vatican Museums open |
| Sun 28 March | Easter Sunday: Vatican Museums closed, no free entry; in 2026, Mass in St Peter’s Square and the Urbi et Orbi blessing. Clocks go forward |
| Mon 29 March | Easter Monday: Vatican Museums, the Borghese Gallery and Castel Sant’Angelo closed |
- The Pantheon (a €7 ticket) holds Mass at 10:30 on Sundays and holidays, so on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, and at 17:00 on Saturdays. Only worshippers are admitted while Mass is on (Ministry of Culture, 30 September 2026). See the Pantheon tickets guide.
- Villa d’Este at Tivoli, which opens at 14:00 on Mondays, opens at 8:45 on a Monday that is a public holiday, so on Easter Monday, and at 14:00 on the Tuesday after (villae.cultura.gov.it, 30 September 2026). The Tivoli day trip guide has the rest.
- Vatican Museums hours on the days they are open: 8:00 to 20:00, last entry 18:00. The Vatican Gardens and the Via Triumphalis necropolis are closed on Sundays and public holidays (museivaticani.va, 30 September 2026). The Vatican Museums tickets guide has every closed day to the end of 2027.
The altar of repose at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, set up for Holy Thursday. Photo: L.J.Mazurek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Pope’s Easter events
Tickets for the Pope’s Masses and audiences are free. Lay visitors request them from the Prefecture of the Papal Household at eventi.pontificalisdomus.va; priests and bishops apply through the Office for Liturgical Celebrations instead (vatican.va, 30 September 2026). The Vatican’s calendar of celebrations lists 2026 only, so it is the page to watch for 2027.
An Easter Mass in St Peter’s Square. Photo: Laura Paone, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Holy Week 2026, Pope Leo XIV’s first, had this programme (Vatican, Holy Week 2026, 30 September 2026):
| 2026 date | What | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 29 March | Palm Sunday Mass | St Peter’s Square | 10:00 |
| Thu 2 April | Chrism Mass | St Peter’s Basilica | 9:30 |
| Thu 2 April | Mass of the Lord’s Supper | St John Lateran | 17:30 |
| Fri 3 April | Celebration of the Passion of the Lord | St Peter’s Basilica | 17:00 |
| Fri 3 April | Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) | The Colosseum | 21:15 |
| Sat 4 April | Easter Vigil | St Peter’s Basilica | 21:00 |
| Sun 5 April | Easter Sunday Mass | St Peter’s Square | 10:15 |
| Sun 5 April | Urbi et Orbi (“to the city and the world”) blessing | Central loggia of St Peter’s Basilica | 12:00 |
Good Friday at the Colosseum
The Colosseum at dusk. Photo: Diliff, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5.
The Via Crucis is the Way of the Cross, fourteen stations that retrace Christ’s path to the crucifixion. It is held at the Colosseum on Good Friday evening, and in 2026 the Pope presided and carried the cross for all fourteen stations (Vatican News, March 2026). The Vatican’s bulletin gives the start as 21:15 (press.vatican.va, 3 April 2026).
What to book for Easter week
- The Vatican Museums: book the days that are open, Monday 22 to Saturday 27 March, at tickets.museivaticani.va (€25 online) as soon as your dates are fixed. With Sunday and Monday shut and no free Sunday, a Museums visit that week has to fit into the open days.
- The Colosseum: tickets carry your name and go on sale 30 days ahead at ticketing.colosseo.it, so Good Friday 26 March goes on sale on 24 February 2027 and Easter Sunday on 26 February. The Colosseum tickets guide covers the ticket types. A guided Colosseum, Forum and Palatine tourad is the fallback if the official slots go.
- The Borghese Gallery: book a Tuesday to Sunday slot at galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it; it is closed on Easter Monday. The Borghese guide explains the two-hour slots.
- A papal Mass: request the free tickets from the Prefecture once the Vatican publishes the 2027 celebrations. St Peter’s Basilica is open daily 7:00 to 20:00, has no cloakroom, and needs shoulders and knees covered.
Planning the week
Put the Vatican on Monday to Saturday and use Easter Monday for a walk between the Trevi Fountain (€2 to go down to the basin, card only), the Pantheon (€7) and Piazza Navona, or for a day trip such as Tivoli. The 3-day Rome itinerary shows how to fit the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums and the Borghese round a closed day. For the rest of the year, see the best time to visit Rome, Rome at Christmas and what to book before you go.
Common questions
When is Easter in 2027, and are the Vatican Museums open?
Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027. The Vatican Museums are closed on Easter Sunday and on Easter Monday, 29 March. Their 2026-27 calendar marks no closure or shorter hours for Holy Thursday, Good Friday or Holy Saturday. Friday 19 March, the feast of St Joseph, is a closed day.
Is the last Sunday of March free at the Vatican Museums in 2027?
No. The last Sunday of the month is free unless it is Easter Sunday, and 28 March 2027 is. There is no free Sunday in March; the next is 25 April 2027.
Where is the Via Crucis on Good Friday?
At the Colosseum. In 2026 the Pope presided over the Way of the Cross there at 21:15 on Good Friday. The Vatican has not yet published the 2027 programme; Good Friday 2027 is 26 March.
How do you get tickets for Easter Mass with the Pope?
Tickets for the Pope's liturgical celebrations are free. Lay visitors request them from the Prefecture of the Papal Household at eventi.pontificalisdomus.va. In 2026 the Easter Mass was at 10:15 in St Peter's Square, followed at 12:00 by the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central loggia of the basilica.
Is the Colosseum open at Easter?
Its published closed days to January 2027 are 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027 only. The Colosseum has not published its hours for March 2027; in 2026 its summer hours began on 29 March, the day the clocks changed. Tickets go on sale 30 days ahead, so Easter Sunday goes on sale on 26 February 2027.
