“Outstanding Rome Tour” 
We arrived in in the port of Civittavecchia on Sep 30 on the Ruby Princess ship. Our tour guide named Max Parini was waiting for us with a sign on hand. He was driving a nice/clean Mercedes van. Our group had five adults w/o children. We told Max that we wanted to see and visit many sites as possible and we discussed the places that were a priority for us. As it was the last Sunday of the month we knew that the line at the Vatican/Sistine Chapel was going to be very long as the admission was free for everyone. As soon as we got to the Vatican we saw the incredibly long line.
So the alternate plan was to visit St. Peter’s Basilica and the square. We got there early enough that the line was very short. We headed for the top of the dome and had a 360 deg. magnificient view of the city. Afterwards we visited the Basilica and saw the mass.After seeing the Swiss Guards outside, we walked for a couple of minutes and met Max to continue with the tour.
Max knows every little corner and tiny street in Rome. He grew up there and he has excellent driving skills. Max is extremely well versed in Roman history, it was his major in college. He speaks english very well and has a good sense of humor. I could not find a question that he could not answer. He had an iPad that he used to show us photos and videos to expand on the subject that we were seeing or visiting.
Next we visited Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Incredible to walk inside the Pantheon. There was a choir singing and the acoustics of the building were awesome. The next stop was a restaurant that Max recommended for lunch. It was called La Capricciosa and the food was excellent. We ordered a couple of pizza’s and calzone’s. Simply delicious!
Afterwards we visited the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. It was busy, even as it was raining lightly. After a few minutes we headed for the Colosseo.
The Colosseo is a very large structure that exudes history and mystique. It is the iconic image of ancient Rome. We walked all around a couple of times and took many wonderful photos.
The last stop was the area where the Palatine Hill and Circus Maximus area. Here Max brought these ruins to life with his explanations and the visuals in the iPad. Because of Max talents and excellent skills we had a memorable experience in Rome.
We highly recommend Italy Rome Tour for any tours in Rome. It is a very service oriented company that pays attention to every little detail about sightseeing Rome in an efficient and at a very fair cost. Much less that what we would have paid for a cruise organized tour. The cruise tours use large buses with 40-60 people. Those groups are too large and the buses can not get close to many of the sites so you waste a lot of time walking to the attractions.