Palatine Hill Tours

This was one of the best tours that we had on our Italy trip. Our guide Diego was very knowledgeable and fun. His enthusiasm for this history could be seen in the way he explained everything in the three different areas. When we were in the Colosseum, he made it fun by playing lion sounds in our headsets and a clip of the movie Gladiator to get the feel for the place. I definitely would recommend the guided tour.

The tour was really good and Stefano, our guide, was personable and very knowledgeable. The headset radios were not great and the sound kept breaking up. It was also a shame there was no option for the earring impaired available. The tour ran smoothly except one incident at the entrance to the Colosseum where it appeared there was a discrepancy between number of adult and concession tickets that had been purchased. After about 15 mins this was sorted and unfortunately one person had to leave the tour so be sure to check you have correct details in the booking. One other niggle was that we had booked for a tour of 20 but in reality there were 30 on the tour. It was more expensive to book the smaller tour so I felt a little cheated when place in the larger tour group.

As with most tours, your tour guide makes or breaks the tour. Our guide (name started with a D- maybe Daniel or Dennis?) was fantastic! He was an archeologist and had broad knowledge about the Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. He was able to answer all of the many questions he was asked. We ended up booking this tour at the last second because another tour company canceled our tour with Underground the day before (bummer!) but we were very glad we did this tour.

Francesca was well informed, funny, and always smiling. She obviously loves her job, and was so much fun as a guide. We were running late and the tour company bent over backwards to allow us to join them and make us feel welcome. The tour was well paced, with lots of opportunities to take pictures and ask questions. She also had great visual aids, including her 'magic book' with all kinds of great pictures to help us envision the sites as they would have been. Overall a great tour. The only thing I would have liked is a smaller number group, but Francesca kept track of us all!

Dennis was our tour guide and he was awesome! Very professional, knowledgeable, and kind. Accommodated to the group’s needs throughout the tour. He knew a lot of the history and made visiting the Roman Forum / Palatine Hill / Coliseum much more enjoyable and meaningful. He also mentioned that he is an archaeologist which is really cool!

An amazing tour, definitely worth seeing these sites with a guide to get the best experience. The knowledge and interactivity of our guide Yuri helped make the experience much more memorable! The Colosseum really was the main event however the Forums and Palatine Hill were just as interesting and beautiful.