My husband and I (late 20's) will be in Italy for the first time in September 2011; we are interested in a Vatican tour to help us understand and learn about what we will be seeing rather than trying to do it on our own.

I have found two companies that seem to offer what we are looking for (guidance, skipping the lines, general info, small groups) at a reasonable price (we're comfortable spending about 20E/hr pp, but prefer to keep it under 5 hours (so, around 200E for both of us) as not to overwhelm ourselves). Also notable is that we do prefer a group tour, as we enjoy hearing questions/learning from other people with various perspectives.

The two companies I'm considering are Presto Tours <http://www.prestotours.com/vatican-tour.php> and Avventure Bellissime <http://www.tours-italy.com/rome-vatican_tours-vatican_tours.htm>.

Is there anyone who has recently booked/toured with either company that is willing to provide feedback? Does anyone have other company suggestions that fall within our preferences?

Thank you all for any input; it is much appreciated as we venture into the unknown!

Anxiously awaiting any replies. We too are traveling to Rome in September. I do have our Savi reservation already made (I would recommend that to you as well, we went several years ago and wanted to return now that we have done some more reading-it was very interesting and well worth the few dollars they charge).

Thanks for the recommendation, LuvToRoam; I just emailed our request for a Scavi tour. It's always encouraging when people not only say 'I'd do it again', but actually DO it again!

I'm not sure how many questions you would hear during a group tour with headsets on.

kybourbon- good point. but presumably if someone were asking a question to the guide, the guide would not be speaking into the headset at that time... thus allowing us to catch the questions. or, at the least, hear the response to any questions via the headset!
my interest in a group tour really stems from the fact that other people will undoubtedly inquire differently than us, allowing us to expand our knowledge even further.

The Vatican has rules for guides and one of them is using the headsets by tour groups to keep noise down. I haven't been on a tour there in few years, but even years ago, you were expected to be very quiet if you were part of a tour group. Your group may not even be all that close together for you to hear a question as the headsets allow for a bit of wandering away from the group and still be able to hear the guide.