Hello Fodor's I am in search of an honest and authentic local tour company in Rome for a Colosseum and Forum small group, or possibly private (depending on cost) tour while in Rome some weekday between August 28 and September 5. I would prefer to utilize and support a local business rather than a corporation. I am open and appreciative of any ideas and/or advice. I have not been on here since my Paris trip about 7 years ago, but I haven't been anywhere, either! I value everyone on here enough that I really won't travel without talking with all of you first, lol

Thank you in advance, Kelly

In Rome last month we used Get Your Guide to book a great small group 2.5 hour walking tour of the Forum, Palatine and Coliseum led by a guide with local provider Rutas Romanas

Daniella Hunt is a local resident who has been giving private tours for decades. She was a Latin scholar who came to Rome for research and never went home. She now is also a consultant for archaeological expeditions.

https://rome-tours.com/

I first met her when a friend of mine with special needs came to visit me and wanted to get a tour of the Roman Forum that would greatly eliminate her exposure to the sun. Anyone who's ever seen the Roman Forum will know how difficult this could be. Someone recommended Daniela, because she's willing to highly customise her tours. She did an excellent job of keeping my friend out of the sun, from various small shaded areas, while explaining everything we saw in full. She asked us how much our group knew about Roman history and tailored her tour to our knowledge and interests. I've heard she's an excellent guide for children.

Daniella is very heavily booked, so you have to reserve well in advance. I've tried several times to organise tours for other friends and relatives, but she often is unavailable. Her tours are rather expensive, but well worth the price.

I think GetMyGuide is a booking service for private guides, so the quality my vary, although if it's a booking service probably most of the guides are local.

Marvelous!! Thank you! I will definitely reach out to her

Thank you both for your input, it is appreciated, Kelly

Get Your Guide, Viator and Tiqets are the big 3 consolidators for city tours. They don't provide the tours themselves. So if you are looking to avoid a company siphoning off money, then you can try to avoid them. But it is very tempting, economical, and efficient to use them, and they pay to come up first in Search Engines, so they are hard to resist.

I'm not sure about Rome, but in some places guides have to be licensed which can take years of study. So a private guide can be an expensive proposition.

https://www.contexttravel.com/pages/rome-walking-tours
I really like Context tours, we used them for a tour of the ancient ruins of Rome which included the Forum and Colosseum; our guide was doing her PHD in ancient urban planning and brought every place to life with her descriptions. We also used Context for a Vatican tour and we have used them in Granada for an Alhambra tour. I have used them in London as well. You really get what you pay for with them.