Vatican will remove visitors who do not respect covid-19 rules.

The Vatican Museums reopen on Monday 3 May, with a promise to enforce strict rules designed to curb the spread of covid-19.

• Visiting the Vatican Museums: all you need to know

The Vatican has underlined that "punctuality, masks and social distancing" are required to visit the Museums and the Vatican Gardens which will also reopen.

Visits to both the Vatican's museums and gardens are strictly via online booking with visitors given a specified time-slot that they must respect.

Restrictions will be "enforced by security personnel," reports Vatican News, with staff authorised to remove visitors who fail to respect the rules.

The re-opening follows the museums’ third closure since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

• Covid-19 in Italy: Vatican Museums reopen after 88 days

In March 2020 the Vatican Museums closed for almost three months, due to the coronavirus emergency, reopening in June.

In November the museums were shut for a second time, remaining closed for 88 days - their longest closure since world war two.

• Covid-19: Vatican Museums crowds spark criticism

After reopening on 1 February, the Vatican Museums then closed again - along with every museum in Italy - on 15 March.

In February the Vatican Museums faced allegations of over-crowding however the claims were rubbished by the museums' director, Barbara Jatta, who said she was there herself and that the "situation was by no means so dramatic."

• Rome's museums fall silent again under new shutdown

Reservations must be made exclusively from the Vatican Museums website. Photo credit: S-F / Shutterstock.com.