Full-Day Tours in Rome

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For those of you who wish to truly maximize your time in Rome, this is the ideal solution. We offer four fascinating options for your day, each of which includes being picked up at and returned to your downtown Rome hotel or residence. We regret that we cannot guarantee the chronological order of your day in advance, but whichever tour you choose, at the end of the morning, your driver will take you to a spot in central Rome where you can have a relaxing lunch on your own. Naturally, your guide will be happy to recommend his or her favorite eatery, commensurate with the size of your appetite! After lunch, your driver will return to take you to the second half of the day’s activities.

Choose one of these four options for your fascinating day in Rome:

Vatican & Walking Tour of Ancient and Baroque Rome
The Vatican, the Roman Coliseum and the Catacombs
Rome’s Two Religions
Troubled Times for Rome’s Religions

Vatican & Walking Tour of Ancient and Baroque Rome

This tour includes a three-hour tour of the Vatican Museums, where your private guide will help you make sense and enjoyment out of the world’s largest artistic labyrinth. The museum tour concludes at the Sistine Chapel, and afterwards you and your guide will stroll over to visit St. Peter’s Cathedral. For the other half of your tour, you’ll stroll through the Roman Forum, center of political and social activity under the emperors. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also its business district and civic center. It was expanded to include temples, a senate house and law courts. When the Roman Empire fell, the Forum became forgotten and was used as a cattle pasture during the Middle Ages. It was not uncovered again until the early 20th century, and you’ll find out why. At the far end of the Forum stands Rome’s most famous monument, the Coliseum. You will skip the ticket lines and enter the amphitheater, which Emperor Vespasian began around 70 AD in a low-lying area surrounded by the hills where Rome’s patricians had their lavish villas. Previously, all amphitheaters had been constructed of wood. These structures were vulnerable to fire and occasionally collapsed under the weight of the spectators. Thus the Roman Coliseum was both a technical innovation and an enormous gift to the public. Ancient historians estimate that as many as 9,000 animals were killed in those games; thousands of gladiators also fought to entertain the masses. From his private "box seat" the emperor decided the fate of those gladiators defeated in battle. You may sit in that very area as your guide explains what went on for centuries in this, probably the most famous stage ever built in the world. Afterwards, you will stroll through the Baroque part of Rome, including Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona and, time permitting, the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon.

The Vatican, the Roman Coliseum and the Catacombs

Three hours of this tour are dedicated to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s as described above. For the other half of your tour, you will skip the ticket lines and have a guided tour of the Coliseum as described above, and then you’ll travel by car to see the ancient Appian Way. This was once the most important road in the world, and still today it maintains a feeling of faded glory. You'll see where the original marble pavers have been scarred by centuries of chariot wheels; you'll walk past the tombs of the Imperial families; you'll spot ancient road signs that have survived for two millennia. Because there is no traffic on this road, and it is surrounded by quiet Roman countryside (and the estates of a few modern Roman millionaires!), you can really imagine how it may have been when Spartacus led thousands of uprising slaves along its length so many years ago. You'll also visit the most important and interesting Roman catacomb. You'll be allowed to enter on your own, without a group, and once inside your guide will lead you down into the dark tunnels where clandestine Christians worshipped and were buried. You'll see the loculi where their sheet-wrapped bodies were laid to rest, and you'll learn to decipher the secret symbols that only Christians understood.

Rome’s Two Religions

This tour includes a three-hour tour of the Vatican Museums as described above, plus an in-depth discovery of Jewish Rome. Many don't know it, but Rome has Europe's oldest Jewish community. The Jews in Italy have strong bi-cultural roots which go back even before the birth of Christ, when the Jews already had an alliance with the Roman Empire. Under the leadership of Judah Maccabeus, many Israelites left the land of Israel to go to the "Eternal City" (Rome) in the second century BCE. It was not until the Romans destroyed the second temple in Jerusalem [70 CE] that the Jewish/Roman alliance was broken and the Jews were forced into slavery. About ten thousand Jews were transported to Rome and forced to help build the Coliseum. Although enslaved, the Jewish population in Rome flourished. Thirteen synagogues were built as well as numerous cemeteries. However, many Romans despised the Jews and found their rituals to be barbaric. The tolerance for religious freedom started to take a turn for the worse in 380 CE when Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the Roman Empire, with very little tolerance for Jews and other religious cults. By the second half of the 16th century the church instituted the Papal Bul: All Jews were to be enclosed in ghettos, each community could have only one synagogue, all commercial and civil rights were taken away, and all Jews had to wear a contrassegno (identification). In 1516 the first Jewish ghetto was established in Venice and in 1555 a ghetto was established in Rome. Both were overcrowded and dirty, but the study of Torah and Talmud flourished between their closed walls so ironically, rather than destroy Jewish culture, they actually helped it to blossom and grow. It was not until the arrival of Napoleon that the doors of the ghettos were torn down. But when Napoleon was defeated, the Jews were thrown back into the ghettos and once again their rights were taken away. Your private walking tour retraces all this fascinating history, moving backwards from the Fosse Ardeatine, a site near the Christian catacombs where over 300 Romans (including 73 Jews) were massacred by Nazi occupiers in reprisal for a partisan attack. The tour continues to Isola Tiberina and the Ghetto. Here you walk from the ancient island in the middle of the Tiber River, through the recently excavated gateway to Rome. After a stroll through il ghetto, which is no longer walled but is still the heart of the Roman Jewish Community, your guide will leave you at the impressive Synagogue (completed in 1906). If you wish, you may continue the day on your own with a guided visit to the Temple and its excellent historical museum.

Troubled Times for Rome’s Religions

This tour combines the tour of the Appian Way and the Catacombs as described above, and the discovery of Jewish Rome as described above.

Each half of these tours lasts three hours. We regret that we cannot guarantee the chronological order of your day in advance. Prices include private car transfers as described, and personal tour guide. Meals are not included and the Synagogue visit is not included. Entrance tickets to the Vatican Museums are extra. If your party includes 10 people or fewer, tickets cost 19 Euro/person, including the special priority pass fee that insures you will be in the priority line. If your party includes more than 10 people, tickets cost 20 Euro/person, including the special priority pass fee that insures you will be in the priority line. Tickets are paid in cash during the tour (your tickets will be pre-booked by the guide, and ticket prices may vary slightly without notice). You may have to wait briefly before the museum doors open but you will not have to go to the end of the long line. If your group includes at least two adults plus children, up to two of the children under 12 years old pay nothing for the tour except for tickets (children pay 18 Euros/person unless they are younger than 7, in which case tickets are free). If you have more than two children, all the others pay the adult price for the tour no matter their age. If your group numbers more than 7, you will hear the guide better if you purchase audio headsets at the door for 2 Euro/person. The tours are available in English or Spanish.