I am sending my parents (upper 60s) to Italy for 2 weeks to celebrate my father's 70th birthday. They are both very active and love to travel and explore on their own. This is not their first trip to Italy but their first trip to Rome and Florence. I am looking for recommendations for good day tours that may combine bus and walking. They would like to see all the main sites in Rome including the Vatican but not from a bus. They will be in Rome for 3 nights and Florence for 3 nights. They are renting a car after their stay in Rome and heading to Tuscany (Montalcino) for 5 nights before they drop their car in Florence. Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

Three nights in Rome is not a lot of time, especially if that is their first stop after a long flight. I'm sure they can easily fill up three days in Rome but if they really want something outside of the city, my favorite day trip is Tivoli Gardens. It's a bit of a long walk from the train station to the gardens but it's worth it. If they take the train to Tivoli tell them to ask the conductor which stop to take as you don't take the first stop that says "Tivoli." Please check out the photo gallery on this link.

http://www.villadestetivoli.info/storiae.htm

Are you asking for tours of Rome and Florence or day trips out of those cities?

The main sites in Florence are within walking distance of each other and, if your parents are used to traveling, a good guidebook is really all they need.

I have heard good things about Context tours on this forum for Rome but have never taken any of their tours.

If they have three nights in Rome, that gives them only 2 full days which isn't much especially as they may be suffering from jet lag. Therefore I wouldn't schedule anything specific for the day after they arrive but have a list of suggestions, for example a walking tour of the centre of Rome, which if they are ordinarily fit, they should be able to accomplish easily, especially if they are staying in the centre. [Centro Storico]. Any decent guide book will have a proposed route taking in the main sights and they can take their time doing them, stopping along the way for drinks and food, and going back to the hotel if they need to for a rest or a nap.

for the second day, they could make an early start at St Peter's followed by the Vatican [by that do you mean the museums, or St Peter's itself?] where I suggest they do a short tour. then after lunch get a cab to the Colosseum and do a pre-booked tour of it, and the Forum if they wish.

In Florence they again have only 2 days and there is a great deal to see there. A good guide book should give them an idea of what they want to see and suitable routes to get there. IME Florence is not a place for taking buses as the traffic is so bad; it is a place to walk so having a nice centrally placed hotel is a must so they can go back and rest when they want to.

I am interested in recommendations for tours in the city of Rome itself. That is a hybrid walking/bus tour highlighting the sights. For example, i did a tour many years ago when i was in Rome where we walked to the Pantheon, the fountain, and some other close-by sights and then hopped on a bus that took us to the Vatican where we toured on our own. While we are usually not tour bus types, we thought it was great as we got a bit more information hearing it from a live person than reading a book or listening to a recording. Any recommendations for something like that?