Francesca was a great guide. She engaged with my 8 yo and had lots of interesting details to share. Definitely a must do tour in Rome.

  Great tour with not just historical facts but plenty of anecdotes that kept the teenagers attentive the whole time. Massimo was just fantastic. Period.

  My teen daughter and I had a private tour of both the colosseum and the Vatican on 2 separate days.
Our tour guide was Sarena. This was an... read more amazing tour and really enhanced our vacation. Sarena was an amazing tour guide. She is so knowledgeable, engaging, and personable. My daughter has studied a lot of Roman history and art in school. Sarena took that and ran with it, really personalizing our experience and tour. It felt like we
were walking around with a good friend, one who knows so much about Roman history, art, and these Roman landmarks. We did not wait on line anywhere. And she knew
all of the best places to stop including restroom breaks. Both tours were worth every bit of what we spent. I highly recommend this tour company- ask for Sarena to be your tour guide. You will not be disappointed .

  Great service .. our guide Salvatore was very informative and patient.
Would highly recommend this company and your .
Did t feel rushed and got a good idea of the... read more colloseum and the rich history.

  Francesca was a terrific guide to the Colosseum and ancient Rome, and she kept our boys (aged 11 and 16) engaged and interested, even though it was a rather warm... read more day! She's a wealth of knowledge (unrelatedly: ask her about Raphael and Michelangelo - she's an expert!) and she really brought these ancient sites alive for us. We would take another tour with her or with Joy of Rome in a heartbeat.

  Our Joy of Rome tour was our favorite tour we did in Rome. Serena was our guide and not only was she informative, but kind and accommodating. She was excited... read more to show us the history of her city. We had been traveling for a few weeks with 6 adults and our 6 month old daughter. By the time we got to Rome we were hot, tired and not very excited about spending another day sweating amongst hundreds of tourists trying to see some old rocks. Well Serena changed our minds about Rome! I felt like I actually learned the history of the coliseum. We could understand her. She made sure we had a break and stayed together. Also, Joy of Rome tours accommodated us last minute and helped us find a tour that worked for us. They were responsive and helpful. Great overall experience!!!!

  Thanks to Francesca, our Colosseum tour was the highlight of our Rome trip. She kept our young boys (6 and 8) engaged and focused. The Colosseum is a huge place... read more and the kids often got distracted but Francesca had no problems getting their attention back. She patiently answered their many questions (including random ones totally unrelated to Rome). She answered many of the adult questions too, satisfying our curiosity. Because of her, we the parents, managed to admire the majesty of the Colosseum.

Without her, I'm sure the boys would have gotten bored quickly and the adults, having to keep a constant eye on them amidst the crowd, wouldn't have had such an enjoyable experience.

Booking with Joy of Rome tours was easy and fuss free. They answered all questions promptly via email.

  Francesca was extremely knowledgeable. She has great enthusiasm for the art, artists, the gallery and helping us learn. She answered our questions and welcomed them. It deepened... read more my experience immensely. I am still thinking about the major pieces - one which made me cry.

While an art historian private guide may seem pricey, I would trade the cost for visiting another museum or two or a fancy dinner.

  We had a private Vatican Tour on a Friday night with Serena. It was incredible! Serena was so engaging and knowledgeable. Her enthusiasm was contagious. ... read more We appreciated the extraordinary privilege of her guidance on a relatively quiet evening in this blessed and special museum. This tour was one of our highlights in a monthlong visit to Italy. We highly recommend a private tour as it is personal and directed toward your specific questions and interests. You will not be disappointed!

  Joy of Rome is a sheer delight! We went on 4 tours with them and all were supremely fantastic! The wonderful Serena took us on The Highlights of Rome walking... read more tour and the next day the Ancient Rome tour. We then had the delightful Giulia guide us on the very special Tour Tivoli and finally Francesca who showed us around The Vatican. All guides and tours were first rate and i recommend our guides and The Joy of Rome tours to make your stay in Rome extra special!

  Arianna opened our eyes to marvels that we would have never known without her guiding us through this extraordinary museum. We loved her enthusiasm, knowledge and great ability to... read more connect critical events together so that we could understand history in a much more in depth way. She made the 2-1/2 hours the definite highlight of our four days in Rome.

  I would highly recommend Joy of Rome. The whole experience from booking the tickets by email to being guided to the meeting point to the tour itself was faultless.
I... read more went with my 7-year old daughter who by 15h30, when our tour started, was pretty tired after a whole day of walking. But Alessandra, our guide, had enough spark, passion and interesting facts to keep my daughter interested throughout!
Alessandra and her guided tour were pure Joy!!!!

  the thing i liked the most about the tour was that Grace our tour guide was an expert in the field and showed how professional she was by her excellent... read more manor and handling of my family (young children and a child with special needs) attention to the details i had discussed particular for my family! it made the whole experience worth it for my son and gave my husband and me a chance to look around and enjoy the tour too rather than worry and fret about the kids. the tour was tailor made in speed and content . Grace was so polite, patient and kind! thank you for a lovely experience!

  We were looking for an engaging, informative tour of the Colosseum for our kids (and us!) and Serena was the perfect solution. She brought the experience to life through storytelling... read more that kept both my kids (ages 7 and 3) entranced throughout the 2.5 hours. She was extremely knowledgeable about everything. We also spent a bit of time at The Forum, and it wasn't too much. Would highly recommend this tour!

  SUPERLY AND HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEIR TOURS!!!
We followed 2 tours (becoz 1 is definitely not enough), separately with Serena for Caravaggio theme and Massimo for Dark Ladies theme. To say... read more that the two tours changed my understanding of Rome is a great understatement. They have literally broadened my views of both the city of Rome and even the history of the world. Both Serena and Massimo have exhibited very comprehensive knowledge base of the city and the stories. And especially, the way they tell these stories were extremely attractive, humorous and interactive!!!! They have made Rome such a lovable city, full of stories, adventures and love.

  We had a truly wonderful tour of the Colosseum with Serena. It was the perfect length, with just the right amount of content and fun for our 7 and... read more 9 year old kids. She was kind, patient and super informative. They also made the entire experience super easy and smooth in terms of process. I HIGHLY recommend booking a tour with Joy of Rome - we will certainly be doing so the next time we are in Rome.

  We absolutely loved our Caravaggio tour with Serena. She is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about art history and,more specifically, this intriguing and enigmatic artist. We visited three churches over a... read more two hour period and saw some of his greatest works while also gaining some insight into the mindset of the artist. Serena has a wonderful talent to draw us into the artist’s life! We highly recommend this tour, and especially Serena, if you are interested in art history.

  Our amazing tour guide was Francesca. Her ability to articulate what we were seeing and why it was important kept us two adults, two teens, and 10 year old... read more engaged in the whole tour. This was not a tour it was an experience. In fact, this is a MUST do experience if you are going to Vatican City!

  Another amazing tour from Joy of Rome. Francesca managed to entertain all of us - me, 2 children (9 and 12) and two students, with a wide variety of knowledge... read more about art. The 2.5 hours went by very quickly, and we all left really enthused. Maybe not cheap, but has given us great memories. Completely different to going round it on your own, whci I'd done before. Francesca obviously knows her subject inside out, and has an infectious enthusiasm for it - highly recomended.

  Our family of four, with two girls ages 13 and 11, enjoyed a wonderful tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with Francesca last week. Francesca was terrific--she... read more was able to create context for the museum that our girls could easily understand, and her explanation of the Sistine made our collective experience of it so meaningful. While I had already seen it before, I learned so much more with Francesca. She procured the tickets in advance, met us promptly at the appointed hour and breezed us through check-in and security--enabling us to really enjoy the tour. Our girls immediately bonded with Francesca. We would definitely seek out another Joy of Rome tour, and Francesca in particular, on our next visit!

  The intimacy of having a one-on-one guide, Emma, for both the Vatican and the Colosseum was second to none. I highly recommend this tour company and if at all possible... read more ask for Emma. From the beginning they were easy to communicate with and felt secure in dealing with them even if I was half way around the World.

  Francesca’s knowledge of art history and her charming and warm personality are a winning combination.

  Francesca was an amazing tour guide for our family with kids ages 10, 10, 6. She kept them engaged the whole time, explained the historically significant aspects of the... read more tour in ways that kids found exciting--and adults, too. I highly recommend her and the company. A+ bravo!

  We visited with our three boys, ages 12, 9, 7. Grace was amazing! She had so many interesting details to share with us. Grace is energetic, kind, incredibly knowledgeable... read more and made our tour so fun for the kids as well as us adults! If we had done the typical audio tour it would not have engaged the kids, as we did this at the Vatican one day earlier and the children were not nearly as interested. Grace had several books that helped to explain and enrich our experience. Can’t recommend a children’s tour with Grace and Joy of Rome enough!!

  Amazing tour hosted by Francesca. Kids thoroughly enjoyed all parts of the Colosseum. Francesca was so engaging with the kids, made it fun and adapted to what they wanted to... read more see and learn about. Super knowledgeable.

  We did the Vatican tour and the Colosseum tour with Francesca! She was amazing with our two boys aged 9 and 12. They both said her tours were their favorite... read more part of our trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Highly recommend to anyone in Rome with kids.

  My friend and I did Francesca's tour together; it was a wonderful experience!
Even though we both have been to Rome several times, we had never seen
these smaller... read more churches with their stunning Caravaggios. Francesca is the
perfect tour guide; she is passionate about the art, but also has a very engaging
personality, and a great sense of humor. We learned so much - now we must find our way back to Rome!!

  We had a fantastic Colosseum tour with Francesca today! She was very knowledgeable and our children (ages 5, 7, and 10) were completely engaged. She adapted well to their interests... read more and attention span, and the adults were rapt as well!

  Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

Never have I been on a virtual art tour and my sense of Google Earth is limited.

There are THREE Caravaggio paintings that I am... read more obsessed with. I had no idea that during this virtual tour that I would see them.

My mouth dropped, I had to compose myself and pray I did not bust out crying in delight when Francesca discussed them. This may have been a virtual tour but the enthusiasm that Francesca gave to each painting helped me understand the background stories of the work.

The three Caravaggio paintings that I am totally obsessed with are:
1) St. Matthew and the Angel
2) St. Jerome
3) David with the Head of Goliath

My introduction to Caravaggio's work was through the cover art of E.S. Posthumus' albums. All of their cover art is of Caravaggio's paintings - specifically the ones I have listed.

When Francesca started sharing photos on Google Earth and the painting of St. Matthew with the Angel came up, I almost wet my pants in delight. The rest of her tour was pure bliss.

I can't thank you enough for this taste of Caravaggio's work. I look forward to doing more tours specifically with Francesca. I am a fangirl of her forever!

Watch out! I may be fluent in Italian by the time COVID is under control, and I can speak to her in her native tongue!

Possa Dio proteggere te, la tua famiglia e il tuo paese in questo periodo difficile. So che tutti ne usciranno vincitori. Rimani vigile nel prendere precauzioni per proteggere la tua salute.

Sei Yamato! -- from Jennifer (Washington, DC - USA)

  Francesca gave an insightful virtual tour of the Caravaggio painting in Rome. I felt like i was in Rome walking the street. Francesca was awesome.