Hello and Happy Holidays. I was looking for recommendations for good guided tours in Rome. We are interested in seeing the sights and getting a bit of history along the way. We will have two teens with us so we are looking for tours that are interesting but don't last forever. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We will be there this January.

dmilo, this is a question that comes up fairly often. If you type "tour guides + Rome" in the search box, you'll come up with several posts. It should get you started.

For my money I highly recommend Scala Reale:
http://www.scalareale.org/pages/

dmilo,

This thread of a few months ago will help --- Do we need a private tour guide in Rome?
> > > http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34439101

I'm another fan of Scala Reale.
Their small-group tours average 4 hours, but imo are fascinating. Last spring some family members of mine, including two young teens, also raved about SR, especially the Vatican tour, the Forum/Colosseum tour, and the Orientation Hike. Their tour that included the Pantheon and such seemed less necessary.