My family of 4 , 2 fit adults in our mid 50's ,daughter age 18, son age 22, are gong to be in Rome from June 16-June 21 and would like to get a tour guide who has some archaeologic knowledge for a private tour of Ancient rome, the Forum, Pantheon, Colosseum and the Palatine hill. I have looked through the Rick Steves Rome book and have contacted those listed , but not all have gotten back to me yet. I would really appreciate any recommendations!
sincerely,
Evelyn

Before my trip to Rome I was researching tours as well. I found great reviews for Angel Tours, and ended up booking my Vatican and Colosseum tours with them. Sadly, due to snow when I was in Rome, the Colosseum was closed, so that tour got cancelled. They let me take their night-walk of Rome instead. Both tours were great. They continue to get great reviews on TripAdvisor, and they do offer a free Pantheon tour: http://angeltours.eu/rome

deonca, thanks . I have heard some spotty things about some Rome tour groups so I am glad for the recommendation.
sincerely,
Evelyn

Happy to help Evelyn! Here's one other tip, it's the official Rome tourism site which offers a few more links to guided tours and/or buses:
http://www.turismoroma.it/itinerari/...uidati?lang=en

I had a wonderful tour with Tony, the owner of 3 Millennia tours. I hope this link works.
http://threemillennia.com
Very good tour guide, full of knowledge, an American who has spent years tour-guiding in Rome. I understand from good friends that the other guides he employs are also knowledgable. If you talk to Tony, tell him Robert says hi.

We greatly enjoyed our tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum with Daniella Hunt of www.rome-tours.com.

Based on my direct experience I recommend Context Tours:
http://www.contexttravel.com/city/rome
They have a tour that meets you needs.

Context guides are generally very well informed and have academic knowledge. I hire them for a client and he's only be disappointed once, and it wasn't in Rome. Not inexpensive.

Bookmarking

We used Context Tours in Rome for two tours: the Vatican/St.Peter's and their Ancient Rome tour.
Both were absolutely excellent.

We used Daniella Hunt who is fantastic! www.rome-tours.com

For small group tours we used Walks of Italy and were very happy with them.

I used Francesca Caruso, but I believe she might be one of Rick Steve's recommendations, as I've seen her on his TV specials. (Ironically, after we had found her through someone else.) [email protected].

If she is booked, I loved our docents/guides with Context Rome. Very knowledgeable. Fun and very informative. Would use them again in a heartbeat.

Buon viaggio!

Rick Steve's uses (or did) Francesca.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...aster-list.cfm

We used Miles and Miles with tour guide Francesco when we were in Rome in October. he started us with a cappucino in his neighbourhood..there were 8 of us from a cruise and we all found the day just perfect.. he studied archeology and was so willing to give history lessons at every site..you can't go wrong booking them ...check them out on Tripadvisor.