Scrovegni Chapel opening hours: daytime slots from 9:00 to 18:45, and an evening programme with its own booking window
This chapel does not have opening hours in the way a museum has opening hours. It has slots. Nothing about arriving between the first and the last one gets you inside; what gets you inside is holding a reservation for one particular quarter of an hour, made on a day that is not today.
| Scrovegni Chapel | When | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Daytime slots | 9:00 – 18:45 | Timed entries across the day, not a door standing open |
| Length of one visit | About 15 minutes | The operator’s figure, and it does not flex |
| People per visit | 25 maximum | An admission limit, which is why slots run out |
| Be at the waiting room | 5 minutes before | Before the time printed on the ticket, not before the hour |
| Evening openings | “Giotto sotto le stelle” | A separate programme in its own booking window |
| Contact centre | Mon–Fri 9:00–19:00, Sat 9:00–18:00 | Closed Sundays and holidays |
All six rows are the operator’s published figures for this address. Times move; the booking site is the authority on the day you are reading it.
“Giotto sotto le stelle”, and the one thing I will not tell you about it
The evening openings are a real programme with a real name, and the name is worth knowing because it is what you search for: Giotto sotto le stelle, Giotto under the stars. One of our thirteen listings uses the phrase on its own page — “Discover Padua with Giotto under the stars” — which is how you can tell it is selling access to the operator’s evening programme rather than a late walk past the outside.
What I will not tell you is how long an evening visit lasts, because none of the operator’s pages I have read gives a length for it, and the daytime quarter of an hour is a daytime figure. If a page anywhere tells you an evening slot runs for some particular number of minutes, ask it where it read that. Evening tickets are released in their own window, on dates the operator names on its own site and moves from season to season, which is exactly why no date for it appears anywhere on this site.
Whether the evening is better is a different question, and one reviewer answers it from experience. Michael, on the evening tour: “Visiting in the early evening was a much better experience than in the day. We were able to quickly enter the site, watch the video which was very good for preparing you for the frescos and then straight into the chapel.” He also notes that his group was ten people rather than the twenty-five the operator allows. Laura, on the same listing, is the one who called it “15 minutes to enjoy intensely!”
Mondays, and what the same ticket stops covering
Here is the trap, and it is not about the chapel. One ticket covers the Scrovegni Chapel and the Civic Museums complex — the Eremitani Museum and Palazzo Zuckermann — except on Mondays. So a Monday slot is a Monday slot: the chapel part of your day is the chapel, and the museum half of the value is simply not there. If you have a choice of days and you want the whole of what you are paying for, do not choose Monday (what the ticket covers, in full).
Two reviewers thought the museum was the surprise of the day. Christine: “consider spending a significant amount of time in the museum, which is huge and truly remarkable.” Aisha: “The attached museum is also a fantastic experience as well.” Both left those reviews on the resold ticket listing, and both of them are describing something the operator’s own ticket already includes.
Which slot to ask for
Three honest considerations, in the order they matter.
- Whatever is left. Slots are twenty-five people at a time across a day that ends at 18:45, and in high season the availability is the constraint, not your preference. Take what exists (what to do when it says sold out).
- Early, if you are travelling in. A first slot leaves the whole of Padua after it, and the Basilica and Prato della Valle are a walk away (what else the day can hold). One reviewer on the ticket listing found the very first visit of the day meant waiting outside a while before anything opened.
- Evening, if the choice exists. Michael’s review is the clearest testimony on the site for the evening programme, and it is about the crowd as much as the light.
After darkPadua: Evening Tour with Admission to the Scrovegni Chapel
Most-reviewedGuided Tour of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel
The ticket, resoldPadua: Scrovegni Chapel Ticket and Audio Guide
Also useful: how long you actually get, how to find the entrance, and what a ticket covers and costs.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Scrovegni Chapel opening hours?
Daytime visits run from 9:00 to 18:45, sold as timed slots rather than as an open door. Each visit is about fifteen minutes, with a maximum of twenty-five people, and the operator does not sell for the same day. The contact centre answers Monday to Friday 9:00–19:00 and Saturday 9:00–18:00, closed Sundays and holidays.
Is the Scrovegni Chapel open in the evening?
Yes, under the operator’s own name for the programme, “Giotto sotto le stelle” — Giotto under the stars — booked in a separate window from the daytime slots. No length for an evening visit is published on the operator’s pages, so this site does not state one. One of our listings sells access to it and quotes the programme by name.
Is the Scrovegni Chapel open on a Monday?
The slot itself is not the problem on a Monday; the rest of the ticket is. One ticket covers the chapel and the Civic Museums complex — the Eremitani Museum and Palazzo Zuckermann — except on Mondays, so a Monday visit is the chapel and nothing else. What the ticket covers.
What time should I arrive for my slot?
Be at the entrance of the air-conditioned waiting room five minutes before the time printed on your ticket — not five minutes before the hour, and not at the chapel door. Tickets are collected at the Eremitani Museum entrance, which the operator puts about a hundred metres from the chapel. The walk between the two.
Can I buy a Scrovegni Chapel ticket on the day?
No. The operator’s own sentence is that same day reservations cannot be made, and there is no counter at the chapel that works round it. This is the single fact that ruins more Padua afternoons than anything else. How far ahead to book.