Rome Tour Guide/Company Recommendations
 

There is no shortage of guides or tour companies to use in Rome. Any that you've used that stand out?
Interested in free walking tours, paid walking tours, and small group guides to Vatican, Pompeii day trip. We are a party of 5 so we could go on our own or join a bit larger group.
Or any specific off the beaten track/out of the ordinary tours not easily found?

I have used www.rome-tours.com which is a one-person operation guided by Daniella Hunt. Daniella is an American student of classics and archaeology, who also helps out on archaeological digs. She is a very busy woman and isn't always available, but she's really an exceptionally good guide, especially for Roman history.

She put together a specialized tour for me and a friend, who had an auto-immune condition that required that she stay out of the sun. She managed to give us a great and informative tour of the Roman Forum, making use of every patch of shade in an archaeological site that has very little shade. She also tailors the tour to your level of knowledge, so that if you already are well read on a subject, she'll go into more depth, whereas if your knowledge is a bit thin, she'll cover more background information.

I've tried several times since to book tours with her, but since I'm usually planning things at the last minute, I'm always too late.

Here you may find my suggestions for less know places (I am a Roman) as well as several other maps with comments. Just surf through the site.

We used Walks of Italy a couple of years ago for our tour of Pompeii and Vesuvius. Did a private tour, they were excellent. Had one guide for Pompeii, and when that was done, met our separate guide for Vesuvius. Have also used Context Travel in Rome for tours of Colisseum and Vatican, they were also very good.

We used Walks of Italy for their early morning (before opening) Vatican tour and for the Colosseum/Roman Forum tour. Both tours were small and the guide excellent.

I have visited Rome with my family and booked a tour with Daniella, she's been amazing. Highly recommend.