Private Tour of the Colosseum and Ancient Rome with Hotel Pick Up

Knowledge that made Rome come alive

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We have travelled extensively around the world and have experienced many guided tours, but Ilia is genuinely one of the finest guides we have ever had. Her knowledge is simply extraordinary. As someone with a PhD in Sacred Iconography, she didn’t just tell us what we were looking at—she explained the meaning behind the artwork, architecture, history and symbolism in a way that was fascinating and easy to understand. Every church, painting, monument and ancient ruin had a story, and thanks to Ilia, Rome came alive before our eyes. From the breathtaking Pantheon to the awe-inspiring Colosseum, she effortlessly connected thousands of years of history, making each stop more memorable than the last. Her passion for Rome is contagious, and her ability to answer every question with such depth and enthusiasm is remarkable. What also stood out was her warmth, professionalism and kindness. We never felt rushed, she made everyone feel included, and she has a wonderful way of turning a tour into an unforgettable experience. If you have the opportunity to tour Rome with Ilia, don’t hesitate. She is an exceptional historian, an incredible storyteller and one of the best guides we’ve ever met. She transformed what would have been a wonderful day into one of the absolute highlights of our entire European holiday. Thank you, Ilia, for sharing your knowledge, your passion and your beautiful city with us. We feel incredibly lucky to have had you as our guide. Five stars simply aren’t enough. Highly, highly recommended!

via Tripadvisor

Do Not Book this

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE! Do not book through this tour. We booked this weeks in advance and were so excited. I sent an email confirming that we are set and they responded "all set." 2 days before the tour I get an email they cancelled our tour. Now I am scrambling and can not get tickets anywhere to see the Colosseum. I am devastated.

Response from the operator: Hi AmyWill69, I'm sorry for your experience but I don't think you posted this review to the company you booked with. My name is Ferdinando from Rome in tours, please remember that when you book with Viator, then your experience is delivered by a local supplier please check on your voucher and you'll find out you didn't book with us, there's no records of a conversation where I replied to a client with "all set". My last cancellation by a client, not by us, was in November 2025 and it was a tour in Ostia not at the Colosseum. Your review is under investigation by Viator to find out what happened. What you wrote is pretty generic as you didn't specify when the tour was supposed to occur, what time, which supplier, who you talked to. When all these details are mentioned (and definitely this is not the case) what you wrote is more believable and give me more instruments to reply. A review like yours even if it reflects a bad experience, it is not helpful for the community of travelers because it is not substantiated, vague and it lacks details. I think you wrote a review to the first supplier you found, thinking that writing a bad review to Viator was enough without making sure who your recipient was! This is definitely not fair. I work hard and my reputation shows this. This tour has all 5 stars review. I sincerely hope this review will be removed.

via Tripadvisor

Highly recommend

Great tour! Very informative and interesting. Great conversation and explanations. Could have have spent so much more time learning about everything on site

via Viator

Very Bad Tour Guide

Our tour guide was very bad. She talked about herself for the first 30 minutes. We asked her repeatedly to go inside the Colosseum and she was very rude telling us she will decide when we go in. When we finally got inside she was giving us bizarre lectures on Jesus and prostitutes. A total waste of money.

Response from the operator: Good morning Erin, this is Ferdinando from Rome in tours. Thanks for taking time to leave us a feedback of your tour, essential for us to improve the quality of our services. Best thing I could do though, as I was not there when the tour occurred, is to report the guide's feedback as well so that anyone reading reviews and maybe choosing our products, can have at least a different perception of what has happened. It is not up to me to say who is right or who is wrong, I leave this to anyone's common sense. These are her words: "As we have a timed entrance, it is not possible to stand and talk about myself for 30 min, a short introduction is always done so that I also know a little about you as the client and usually done while we are in the line to enter. We went directly into the Colosseum, where there is a lovely picture of the stations of the cross, a church and cross on the arena floor. As, they had made it very clear, how Catholic they were, I tried to tell them about Christians and the Colosseum. And you say that I gave you a lecture on Jesus? Saying that I gave a bizarre lecture says how much attention was paid to what I said. As guides, we all speak about this subject. This client accused me of not even knowing that we had to go to the Pantheon as well, it was NOT included. I contacted the company and showed the tour outline to his wife. No apology came forward. He kept on saying he wanted to go inside, we were inside. This man yelled at me, was rude and aggressive, I was shaking. He was not only rude to me, but to his very kind wife and daughter, ignoring them for the rest of the tour. They stayed with me as they wanted to hear. He allowed his son to be rude to me, as a much older woman. They asked to finish earlier, which we did, he had run off, his wife and daughter had to phone to find him. Which meant that we went out of the forum the long way, if he had stayed with me, we would have gotten out faster and to a nearer taxi stand. I took them to the taxi stand and helped them to find a taxi as they do not know Rome and would not know where to go. My help was rude? As we were walking, he kept on yelling at his wife and daughter to move faster, not knowing where he was going being nothing but dismissive as the father of the household, to his wife and daughter, in public and in front of me. Being Catholic was a big issue for him, but the love, kindness, tolerance, understanding of Jesus , was nowewhere to be seen. My whole body was shaking from the angry energy of this client. As a guide, that loves what I do, it was a traumatic afternoon for me. Therefore I would like to thank his wife and daughter , for having stayed with me, listning, asking questions . I sincerely thank them for their kindness". Here I am again. I could ask Viator to remove this review as it damages my reputation and by the standard of our reviews you can find out we commit ourselves to maintain a very high standard on our tours. But honestly I won't do it as the guide's feedback shows that she remained professional and she delivered the tour at her best to whom was interested to hear her and even if the environment was not favorable. Let's stay human ;-)

via Viator

Great day

Our guide was absolutely wonderful. She was extremely knowledgeable. The lines were very long for the Colesium we were glad we did the skip the line option. Take a bottle of water for each person (you can refill them up inside the forum). We easily drank 3-4 bottles each. And don't forget to put on sunscreen. Most of the tour is in 🌞

via Viator