Just thinking ahead to my next Italy trip.
In the past I used Context Rome for walking tours, was so happy with them,and their very small groups, that I was happy to pay their higher fee. I enjoy historical and cultural detail on tours.

I've read recommendations recently for Icon tours, less expensive than CR. The guides seem to have good expertise and speak clear English. However, when I searched for other Icon postings, at least one person has mentioned that although Icon says they have small groups, on at least one occasion the tour group swelled to 30+ as new arrivals joined the group, apparently they'd booked that day. Just wondering if that was a one-off experience, or if it has happened to others.

elaine, I just took two tours with Icon last month, one of the Vatican Museums/St. Peter's and one of Forum/Colosseum. The Vatican one had 20-25 people, the other more, probably closer to 30. Both guides were excellent, very knowledgeable, and made sure everyone was there before starting the next explanation. I can't compare to Context Rome, but I was happy with the amount of information given.

actually, that answered my question, Context Rome limits their groups to 6 or fewer, and that appeals much more to me.
Plus, I liked them before.
thanks.

I think it depends on the time of year, just like anything else. We used ICON in early April for Ancient Rome and there were about 10 people in our group. We were an add-on that morning.

We had two guides even for this small group and the tour cost 25 euro per person, was supposed to last 2.5 hours and lasted a little over 4. There was another couple in our group who had done their Vatican tour the day before and said the group was the same size. They were also given a discount for the Ancient tour because it was their second tour. I believe all of their guides are native English speaking. Don't know if any of this helps but had to add my two cents.

Also, we did a Religious Rome tour with Vastours and I would not recommend them. They were very disorganized and our guide barely spoke broken English. Plus, our tour was originally supposed to include the Vatican. That party was cancelled due to the Pope's passing but we were not notified by the tour company of this change. We waited in front of our hotel as directed (at 6:30 a.m.!) for 30 minutes and our bus never arrived. We sort of figured that the Vatican had been closed for the day but it would have been nice to have gotten a courtesy call.

I have experienced (at Domus Aurea, and also with the Vatican's own guide) the problem of a tour guide for English-speakers not being able to speak comprehensible English. Never again!
I'd rather do an audio tour in that case.

Context Rome IS very organized, at least that was my experience before.
Not only were documents waiting for me at my hotel when I arrived, but they called the night before to confirm, and, when a scheduling glitch occurred (this was immediately past 9/11 and they had lots of cancellations) they both called to make the change AND they faxed a confirmation to my hotel so I'd have a hard copy. My first tour with them was 3 people, the second was 6, which is supposed to be the max.

Maybe in early April I don't have to worry so much about overly-large groups with Icon. I was thinking to save a little $$.