Siena Cathedral visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

The walk

About 30 minutes, with cathedral staff, 18 people per group

Meet

Cathedral main entrance, priority queue, 20 minutes early

Season

1 March to 6 January

Ticket

Roof plus the whole complex, valid three consecutive days

How the roof walk works

Porta del Cielo, the Gate of Heaven, is a visit to the roof spaces of Siena Cathedral. The time on your ticket is the start time of the walk. It lasts about 30 minutes and cathedral staff go with every group, for safety rather than commentary. Each walk takes 18 people, which is why the popular morning times go first.

The cathedral opened these rooms to the public for the first time in 2013. Before that, for centuries, only the builders and the architects who followed one another on the site went up there. The name comes from Jacob's dream of a ladder reaching heaven, which the cathedral quotes on its own pages. Your ticket also covers the rest of the cathedral complex for three consecutive days.

What the ticket covers

The roof ticket is a combined ticket. Alongside the walk it includes the Cathedral itself, the Piccolomini Library, the Museo dell'Opera with the panorama from the unfinished façade of the New Cathedral, the Crypt and the Baptistery. It stays valid for three consecutive days, so you can split the complex over two visits if you stay the night.

The cathedral complex pass covers the same places without the roof walk. Its time is your entry into the Cathedral, and the cathedral asks you to respect it. Both tickets include a free audio guide that runs on your own smartphone. Children up to 6 go free on both, added to your booking at no charge.

Where to meet and when to arrive

The meeting point is the main entrance of the Cathedral on Piazza del Duomo, at the priority queue. The cathedral asks every roof-walk visitor to be there at least 20 minutes before the start time. Staff gather the group and take it up together.

Build in a margin. The cathedral gives no refund for the roof walk if you reach the meeting point late, and the next walks are often full. If you are coming in from Florence, aim for a walk at least an hour after your bus or train is due, so a slow connection does not cost you the climb. The other parts of the ticket can wait for later in the day or the next day.

The route above the vaults

The cathedral describes the walk simply: once you are above the star-spangled vaults, you walk over the nave and look out both inside and outside the building. When the roof spaces opened in 2013, the route was described like this. You go up beside the façade towers and cross above the starred vaults of the right aisle. Galleries inside the building then look down to the high altar and the replica of Duccio's round window.

On the left side, openings face out over San Domenico, the Medici Fortress and the countryside beyond the walls. The route then reaches the gallery of the dome and ends on the balcony of the inner façade, high above the main door. A room along the way shows tools used to build the cathedral. Staff may adjust the order on the day.

Who the walk suits, and who should skip it

The walk suits anyone who is steady on stairs and happy at height. The cathedral does not recommend it for people with heart conditions or vertigo, or for anyone not fit to climb to raised places. Ceilings and passageways are low in places, so watch your head. Smoking is banned at the lookouts and in every outdoor area.

Entry and exit are by a winding staircase, so the route is not suited to wheelchairs. The cathedral itself has a ramp on its left side. If the climb is not for you, the cathedral complex pass gives you the striped nave, the library and the museum panorama at ground level and above the city.

Bags, shoes and what to carry

Leave backpacks and large or bulky bags behind. The cathedral does not admit them on the walk, and it has no left-luggage point anywhere in the complex. On the entry staircase you may only stop long enough to leave or collect an umbrella. On a day trip, plan for this before you leave: arrive at the cathedral with only what fits in your pockets or a small bag held close.

Wear closed shoes with grippy soles. High heels can be refused at the door, and the cathedral advises against slippers, flip-flops, sandals, clogs and smooth leather soles. Keep your camera, phone and glasses on a strap or tied to your wrist. Anything dropped up there can fall a long way.

Children on the roof walk

Children aged 7 to 11 have their own roof-walk fare, and children up to 6 go free, added to your booking at no charge. The cathedral sets no minimum age for the walk. It does ask parents to hold children by the hand the whole way and not to let them wander.

Think about the stairs and the drop before you book with very young children. A child who is nervous of heights will find the high galleries hard, and the group keeps moving. For families, the cathedral complex pass is booked for adults only with us, so choose the roof ticket if you need a 7 to 11 fare.

Opening hours in 2026

The roof walk runs from 1 March to 6 January and follows the Cathedral's hours. From 1 April to 31 October the Cathedral opens 10:00 to 19:00, and from 1 November to 24 December 10:30 to 17:30. Between 26 December and 6 January it opens 10:00 to 19:00 again. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing, and services can change the times without notice.

Sundays and public holidays start later, at 13:30, because of Mass. The exception is while the floor is uncovered. Then Mass moves to the church of Santissima Annunziata and the Cathedral opens on Sundays from 9:30. On 1 December, the feast of the patron saint, the Cathedral closes at 15:00. The roof is closed from 7 January to the end of February.

The floor uncovered: 2026 dates

Twice in 2026 the cathedral uncovers its marble floor: from 27 June to 31 July, and from 18 August to 15 November. The floor holds 56 inlaid panels, made between the 14th and the 19th centuries. Giorgio Vasari called it the most beautiful, largest and most magnificent floor ever made.

Hermes Trismegistus greets you at the door, by Giovanni di Stefano in 1488. Ten Sibyls line the side aisles. Pinturicchio designed the Mount of Wisdom in 1505, and Domenico Beccafumi's panels fill the hexagon under the dome. Matteo di Giovanni's Slaughter of the Innocents sits in the left transept. From the roof galleries you look down into the nave and see the whole layout at once.

Getting there from Florence

Siena works well as a day out from Florence. Autolinee Toscane's rapid bus, line 131R, takes about an hour and a quarter, and the direct 131 about an hour and a half. Both stop at Piazza Gramsci or Viale Tozzi, on the edge of the old centre, a walk from the cathedral.

Regional trains run from Firenze Santa Maria Novella, some direct and some with a change at Empoli. Allow roughly an hour and a half to two hours. Siena station sits below the hill, and a run of escalators climbs to the old city. If you drive, the centre is closed to cars. Use Parcheggio Duomo from the Siena Ovest exit, or Parcheggio Il Campo from Siena Sud.

Seeing the rest of the complex

After the roof, stay inside for the Cathedral itself: the striped piers, the blue and gold vault, Nicola Pisano's pulpit of 1265 to 1268 and the Piccolomini Altar with four statues by the young Michelangelo. The Piccolomini Library opens off the left aisle, painted by Pinturicchio with ten scenes from the life of Pope Pius II.

Outside, the Baptistery lies beneath the choir, with a font carrying reliefs by Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia and Lorenzo Ghiberti. The Crypt was found again in 1999. The Museo dell'Opera holds Duccio's Maestà and climbs to the top of the unfinished New Cathedral façade, begun in 1339 and stopped by the Black Death in 1348. The Museum, Crypt and Baptistery have no step-free access.

Frequently asked questions