Rosie7235

opposed to using a guide from a tour company (such as Through Eternity)? It appears to be fairly cheap, but do you get the same quality of tour? Also, if you use the guides that are at the Roman Forum, do you have to book a tour in advance? It sounds like you can just show up and arrange a tour, but I don't want to have to wait an hour. We are definitely buying our tickets in advance if we go this route, but can we skip the line and still join a tour? I'm having a hard time finding this info on the pierreci website and the links given. Thanks

uhoh_busted

Granted, it was ten years ago, but we latched on to a "free" guide at the forum and had a fantastic tour. (Of course then they wanted you to sign up for a paid tour elsewhere, and we did -- for the Vatican the next day. It was also an excellent tour.) I don't know if they do that anymore, but I certainly didn't have a problem with the concept back then. It appears more formalized now -- and we'll be getting a Roma card this fall so I expect we will return for another tour of the forum.

ParadiseLost

My 2 experiences with *official* guides was at the Colosseum and a reserved tour of the Imperial Forums was not good.

Outside of their memorized scripts they were totally clueless when asked a question or if you questioned *the* script.
And the scripts were delivered in a dull monotone by people who had zero passion for their job.

Add a couple of experiences at the Tourist Info Booths and I just never bothered to look into any official Roman Forum tours and the Forum is a passion of mine. Regards, Walter

Rosie7235

Walter is there anyone that you could recommend for a guided tour of the Roman Forum? We don't mind other sights being included in the tour. I guess the issue that I'm running into is since we want to do the Colosseum tour with the Dungeons and Third Tier, many tour companies also include the Colosseum and we don't want to waste time visiting this twice.

Ifnotnow_when

We're planning a similar trip later this year so I'll be anxious to hear the comments regarding this subject.

seafox

A few years back we used a "hop on" tour service that was staffed with American/ UK students. Very reasonable price and great tour - can't recall their company name.... hmmm

Ifnotnow_when

We've decided to take a couple "Through Eternity" tours of the forum and the Capoltine museum. Years ago we did one with them of the Vatican and liked it. The guide was good and they had little headsets while he talked into a microphone. That always helps for us.

AlessandraZoe

Our experience was the same as uhoh_busted's--We showed up at the Forum, latched onto a guide, and then signed up for the Vatican tour which was quite good.

The biggest advantage???? We had more flexibility in our planning. I had made reservations at the Borghese, and I knew one specific day would be devoted to Pompeii, but I just did not want to be locked in ahead of time with all of our plans.

ParadiseLost

Rosie, my big problems with any of the Roman Forum guides I've overheard (9 trips and I've spent alot of time in the Forum sitting, relaxing, reading) is scripted tours of a few visible sites and no human interest stories (love, sex, murder, etc) that makes the stones come alive.

Visible sites; When the Forum was free they would start near the Arch of Titus either after visiting the Colosseum or the Palatine Hill.
Also this is where the free tours start.

After the Arch of Titus they would all skip the small but very interesting Roman Forum museum there and go to the Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine.

Then down the Via Sacra to the questionable ID of the Temple of Romulus, so the info they tell the group *should* include other possibilities but doesn't.

And on the walk down they say nothing of that interesting area because the history is below ground level with nothing visible to see.

And they never just turn around and show where Julius Caesar's house once was, where he spent his last night and where his body was waked. And that under that metal roof is the Bath area of the House (out of sight) where he bathed and very likely where his blood soaked body was cleaned.

Then on to the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina where the guide will say the groves in the columns were caused by Renaissance workers attempting to pull down the columns.
This is wrong, the groves were caused by ropes over the years that supported a roof when the church turned over the bldg to a appothecary guild ~1430.

Later they will point (not visit) across the Forum Square to the Rostra and give their Julius Caesar funeral talk.
This is wrong. That facade is mostly modernly constructed ~1903 plus that is the Augustian Rostra which is 10m if front of Julius Caesar's Rostra where Marc Antony made his famous speech alongside Caesar's body.
You can only see this rather beautiful curved original Rostra from the side and rear.

My point is unless you hire some private guide who *really* knows the Forum's history you'll get the 'dog and pony show' tour.
Context Rome is an excellent tour company but I assume their Forum tour is still bundled in with the Colosseum and Palatine Hill 4hr tour.
Their guides really know their stuff but are limited by time constrants, so the Forum sites are just the main ones.

If you want to see it all without an expensive private guide, do it yourself.
Pick-up the 'Oxford Archaeological Guides; Rome' and when in Rome or you could try buying one online, get the official guidebook sold in Rome at the archaeological sites & museums called 'The Roman Forum' put-out by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma'. Regards, Walter