Space has been set aside for a barber service within in a facility featuring showers and bathrooms for the homeless.

Construction of the facility in public restrooms on St Peter's Square began in November.

"Our primary concern is to give people their dignity," said Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, head of the Office of Papal Charities.

"[A barber] is another service that homeless people do not have easy access to.

"It is not easy for them to enter a normal shop because there may be a fear of customers catching something, like scabies for example."

The barber service will be open on Mondays, when barber shops in Italy are traditionally closed.

Many Italian barbers and student barbers have volunteered their services.

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Porsche enthusiasts paid 5000 Euros each for a multi-day tour of Rome, which included an exclusive concert inside the Sistine Chapel and a dinner in the Vatican Museums on Saturday.

The "Art for Charity" initiative, aimed at big companies, aims to support the charitable activities of the Pope.

Vatican Museums' managing director Msgr Paolo Nicolini rejected suggestions the chapel was available for rent.

"The Sistine Chapel can never be rented because it is not a commercial place," he told reporters.

Nearly 6 million people a year visit the chapel, with as many as 20,000 in a single day.

The Vatican has been undertaking a major refurbishment of the chapel's air conditioning and lighting system.

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