Pickpockets and the Vatican: Where the Thefts Are Reported

ByIntercoper Curator Team•September 11, 2026

Travel Analysts

📄Visitor reports put thefts around the Vatican on metro line A and bus 64, not inside the museums. And your timed ticket lives on the phone they take.

Crowds and the security line in St Peter's Square

💡Quick Answer

Of the twelve thefts or attempts visitors describe in Rome in our corpus, seven involve the metro and two a bus, including the 64 to the Vatican. Only one happened right outside the Vatican, and none inside the Museums, though four visitors warn about pickpockets there. The Vatican-specific risk is your phone: the timed ticket lives on it, and one visitor lost both on the metro on the way in. Keep a printed or offline copy of the QR code.

Where the thefts in the reports happen

Warnings about pickpockets are everywhere in the corpus. Accounts of an actual theft are much rarer, and they cluster in one place: getting there.

Where the 12 thefts and attempts visitors describe in Rome happened

Metro

Bus, including the 64

Rome, place not given

Train within Rome

Right outside the Vatican

Inside the Museums or St Peter's

one report mentions both a bus and the metro, so the rows add to 13. Source: Vatican Tour Research Corpus 2026.

The two usual public-transport routes to the Vatican are the ones that show up. Metro line A stops at Ottaviano, about ten minutes' walk from the Museums entrance, and the 64 bus runs from Termini station toward St Peter's on a route with a long reputation for pickpocketing. A group heading to the Vatican early one morning stopped on the way to console someone whose phone had just been taken:

“A girl got pickpocketed on the metro though (her phone was stolen), so we spent some time consoling her.” — Reddit, May 2024

“We had read pickpockets are an issue on this bus. Lo and behold someone got pickpocketed while we were on it.” — Reddit, February 2025

The single theft placed at the Vatican itself arrived as a one-star verdict on the whole city:

“Got robbed right outside the Vatican!!” — TripAdvisor, 1 star, July 2026

Two reports point to the same moment: the doors. One reviewer warns about it happening "Especially as the metro doors open and close", and another describes a thief hopping off just before they shut. That is when a crowd shifts and nobody can tell a push from a hand in a bag.

The trade-off: the metro and the 64 are the cheapest, quickest ways to the Vatican, and most people who take them lose nothing. They are also where almost every theft in these reports happens. Walking or a taxi removes that risk and costs time or money.

The Vatican-specific problem: your ticket is on the phone

Losing a phone anywhere in Rome is bad. On the way to the Vatican it can also mean losing the visit, because the timed entry ticket most people carry is a QR code on that phone.

“I let my guard down and lost my phone on the Rome metro — discovered only as I was walking to the Vatican to present my timed reservation with QR code on my…” — Reddit, May 2023

The same visitor describes how it was done: one man approached talking about Termini station, and an accomplice opened the bag while he had their attention.

The timing adds to the damage. Visitors report being admitted only within a short window around the time on the ticket, so an hour spent dealing with a theft can cost the slot as well as the phone. None of the reports in our corpus says how the Museums handle a lost QR code, which is the best reason not to rely on finding out.

The trade-off: printing the ticket or saving an offline copy takes two minutes and feels unnecessary. It is the only thing that keeps a stolen phone from also cancelling the visit.

Inside: warnings, not reports

Four reviews of the Vatican sites themselves mention pickpockets, and all four are warnings rather than accounts of a theft:

“Crowds can be an issue and beware of pickpockets.” — TripAdvisor, 4 stars, October 2025

“we were told of pick pockets in the basilica and one area of concern is to secure your wallet or purse while taking photos.” — TripAdvisor, 5 stars, July 2023

That second one is the most practical advice in the set. Inside St Peter's and the Museums, the moment people stop watching their bags is when they lift a phone to take a picture.

This does not prove that nobody is robbed inside. Reviews of a museum are written about the art, and someone who lost a wallet in the Sistine Chapel may not say so on TripAdvisor. What the corpus supports is narrower: the thefts visitors took the trouble to describe happened on the way.

The trade-off: crowds inside are dense and slow, which makes you feel exposed. The reports suggest the crowded carriage on the way in deserves more of your attention than the gallery.

The fear is bigger than the reports

Nineteen trip reports in the corpus go out of their way to say they had no problem at all, more than the twelve that describe a theft.

“The pick pocket hysteria seems to be blown way out of proportion.” — Reddit, March 2024

Both groups are telling the truth. The clearest account on the other side, from a visitor who saw a theft every day of an eight-day trip, also says who it happened to:

“It was always people who had their bags open, valuables in their back pockets or just generally weren't paying attention.” — Reddit, June 2017

The trade-off: a closed bag worn in front and a phone kept out of back pockets cost nothing. The reports suggest they separate most of the people who lose something from most of the people who do not.

The verdict

Worry about the journey more than the museum. Keep your bag closed and in front on metro line A and the 64, be wary of anyone who starts a conversation at the doors, and carry your Vatican ticket somewhere a thief cannot take it with your phone.

Do this	Why
Print the ticket or keep an offline copy	The timed ticket is on the phone most often taken
Keep your bag closed and in front on line A and the 64	That is where the reported thefts happen
Be wary of a stranger who starts talking at the doors	The distraction one visitor describes, while an accomplice opens the bag
Keep valuables zipped when you stop to take photos	The warning visitors pass on about St Peter's
Leave time before your entry slot	Entry is checked against a short window around the ticket time

Source: Vatican Tour Research Corpus 2026.

Common questions

❓ Are there pickpockets inside the Vatican Museums?

Visitors warn about them, especially in crowded rooms and while taking photos, but none of the 75 items about pickpockets in our corpus describes a theft inside the Museums or St Peter's. The thefts visitors describe happened on the metro, on buses and, in one case, just outside the Vatican.

❓ Is the 64 bus safe to take to the Vatican?

It is one of the direct routes from Termini and most riders lose nothing, but it has a long reputation for pickpocketing and one visitor watched a theft on it in February 2025. Metro line A to Ottaviano is the other common route and appears in more of the theft reports. On either, keep your bag closed and in front and pay attention at the doors.

❓ What if my phone with the Vatican ticket is stolen?

The reports in our corpus do not say how the Museums handle a lost QR code, so the only reliable protection is a copy that is not on the phone: a printout, a screenshot on another device, or the confirmation email accessible elsewhere. Timed tickets are checked against a short window, so leave time in case something goes wrong on the way.

Author and Method

Research and analysis by the Intercoper Curator Team for VaticanTourGuides. Reviewed by Mario Dalo, founder of Intercoper.

Dataset: 22,771 items from 7 platforms, 99.5% enriched with per-item topic tagging and sentiment analysis.

Relevant to this article: 75 items that mention pickpockets or being robbed, with off-topic items excluded: 56 from Reddit, 10 Quora, 5 TripAdvisor, 3 YouTube and 1 Google Maps. Only 6 carry a star rating, so this article uses none. We read every item. 12 describe a theft or attempt in Rome; 3 more were excluded because they happened in Florence, on a train to Pompeii or at a currency exchange; 19 say the traveler had no problem; the remaining 41 are warnings or general advice, 4 of them about the Vatican sites themselves.

The classification was done by hand, and several reports count toward more than one place: one mentions both a bus and the metro. Route details for metro line A and the 64 bus come from the Vatican Museums' getting-here information and public transit references, not from the corpus.

Evidence trail: full research method at our methodology page; dataset documentation and source breakdown at the Vatican Research Program.

About the Author

Intercoper Curator Team

Travel Analysts

Our team analyzes what travelers publicly reported about each tour — thousands of reviews, forum threads and questions — and verifies what can be verified against operators and official sources. We publish what the evidence supports, including the parts that argue against a booking.

👤 About