Colosseum Underground and Ancient Rome Small-Group Tour

This was a great tour but expect a lot of walking. Was able to see a lot of the colosseum. Our guide was very knowledgable.

This was really interesting and very well done. I would strongly recommend this small group format as the best was to see these sites. Also our guide (Chiara?) was excellent. Our group had a ton of questions and she was patient, kind and very knowledgable.

Robert did a fantastic job escorting us through the Forum. Sadly, it was pouring rain when we were there, but he kept us all laughing, enjoying the depth of his knowledge, the details of the grounds and his parasol :-). The inside pass to the Colosseum was amazing!! Rain or shine, we all enjoyed the tour! Having access to the the underground was truly one of the high points of our tour. Seeing where the gladiators actually staged, where the beasts were housed and the example of the lifts to bring the beasts into the arena were mind boggling! Thank you and the team for doing such a great job. Being part of a 6 to 1 group felt very personal. Would certainly not do it any other way!! MartyD from NC

Very interesting and knowledgeable tour guide. Knew the history, culture and politics of the era. Spoke very clearly and made the tour fascinating

Rachel our guide was FABULOUS! She was entertaining, knowledgeable, and as hard as my husband tried; she was not be stumped. Roman history is definitely a passion of hers and we were so grateful she shared it with us! A wonderful tour... Worth every penny!

Gulia was an amazing tour guide, extremely knowledgable and was able to answer all questions. She grew up in Rome and studied archeology therefore she is extremely qualified to lead you in a very educational and fun tour throughout the Roman forum and colosseum. I would ten out of ten recommend Gulia to anyone visiting Rome.

When booking this tour one of the key things I wanted was a small group. Me and my partner were with one other couple and our fantastic guide Donata. With the five of us it was a very personal tour which j enjoyed. It was a very fun and informative tour and I really loved the lower part of the Colosseum.

This tour was excellent! Our tour guide was FABULOUS!!! She was very very very knowledgeable. Being a former archeologist gave her insight that she was able to share with us, where many people miss out. She also would show us the ancient pictures so we could get a fell of where we were standing and how it was back then. Loved that there were only 4 of us in our group. That was well worth the cost! Would use this company again and will recommend it to friends and family.

This tour was amazing. The guides are archaeologists that know the history and demonstrate their passion through the tour. I highly recommend this tour.

Worth every penny to avoid the queues and get to see the parts of the Colosseum you wouldn't do normally, especially the underground areas. However, having a tour with a guide whose knowledge of all Roman history, not just in relation to the Colosseum, was so good made the experience really come alive in a way that just wouldn't be possible if we'd walked around on our own. A definite high point on our recent holiday.

The small group was the best way to go! Louise gave us plenty of personal attention outside of the Colosseum in the Forum and surrounding areas. It was a totally private guide full of interesting information. In the Colosseum we were combined with a larger group but the group was lead by one of the archaeologists attached to the Colosseum. He took us from bottom to the top and then set us free to stay as long as we liked. There was no rush and you could ask as many questions as you wanted.

The Colosseum Underground is a great extension to a visit to the Colosseum. You get to see the pulley used to haul people, freight and animals to the stage floor and the system for getting water to flood the stage for water exhibits,

We really appreciated that our guide did his best to keep us cool by find shade wherever he could and made frequent stops to replenish our water supply.

Louise was our guide for the Colosseum and underground tour. She had such a wealth of knowledge and was able to keep my boys engaged. During the inside/underground portion of the tour, we met with Melanie. She gave an excellent overview and loved her dramatic approach on learning. My boys were fully engaged as were we. Would highly recommend Louise and Melanie.

Overwhelming and awesome. Guided through the three main attractions w genuine appreciation and humor feeding our experience. Oscar was the perfect tour Chief!

We were a family group of six, so this tour was excellent for us as we had the guide all to ourselves. Lots of other tours going through the forum were often a dozen or more, so it's really great to be in such a small group. Our guide for the day -- Melanie -- was charming, she told lots of amusing stories to keep our kids interested, and answered all our questions (we had lots!) with ease. She was clearly very well read on the subject of ancient Roman life, their gods and the history of the buildings and events, which we really appreciated. I would recommend this tour and LivItalty without hesitation.

Having the chance to go on the floor level of the Colosseum was amazing. Going underneath, into the holding areas unground...spectacular. I could go on and on, but there is no point... YOU GET TO GO UNDERGROUND AT THE COLOSSEUM!

Alex did a great job and was full of information. We learned so much about the history of the colosseum. The underground area was worth seeing to get the full story of the times. Alex also suggested other things we might enjoy doing while in Rome.

Well organized and very informative tour. Not their fault, but the underground portion of the Colosseum was under renovation so we only saw a portion of it. “Papa Franco” was an extremely knowledgable guide who made this a really great experience.

Our guide Elizabeth/Elizabeta was excellent. She was passionate and knowledgeable, but most of all she truly cared to make sure we got the information we wanted/needed. I would highly recommend her to friends and family.

Julia was excellent! She was witty, personable patient and knowledgeable. Would highly recommend her to my friends.

A friend recommended this tour as a must-splurge, and I'm so glad we did! Louisa (sp?) from Ireland really made the Colosseum and the Roman Forum on Palatine Hill come alive and was a fount of interesting trivia as well as history. Despite the extreme heat (bring a water bottle everywhere!) it was well worth it and we avoided all the crazy lines and big groups.

Great tour very informative and fun. The tour guide discriptions had me visualizing a seance from the past

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour and much appreciated our guide. I think her name was Maria. She was very knowledgeable, had a great sense of humour and didn't make us feel rushed. It was well worth the money.

Top notch experience! Our guide was Giulia and we also got to spend some time with Luca who was the one who guided the Colosseum underground portion of the tour. Luca and Gulia were both marvelous: knowledgable and extremely personable. Giulia also made an extra effort to find shade and places to sit for our teenager with Autism. In my opinion, this is THE way to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum. Highly recommend!

This was our second visit to the Colosseum and Louise really was able to share more info that was new to us. Really enjoyed the special underground tour. The time above ground with Louise was just with 6 total guests and that was really nice. Louise was engaging, fun and enjoyable.

This was an amazing tour, well run by the tour operator. Highly recommend a small group tour, personal attention, overload off historical factual information. The amazing engineering that dates back before AD. Well worth the time to see a different view of the Colosseum.

Good tour although the weather was terribly hot. The tour guide was an archeologists and had a great mastery or her subject. We were four in our group with our one year old in a stroller. Although they said we had to carryour toddler in some places we didn't have any problem navigating the tour with a good stroller. Highly recommended

The meeting point is just outside the train station where there are lots of other groups meeting. We headed for a quick toilet break at the start before going to the ground level to soak in the view from where the gladiators would see, then, we moved underground to understand the life of the gladiators and the path they took from their houses, the animal holding and the ramp the ancient romans used to move the animals up to ground level and eventually went up to through the museum and to the stands where we get the view of the audience. We moved on to the outside where we saw the training houses from afar and then to the the location of Nero's home and ending at the place where Caesar's body was cremated. Went through a great history journey though i would had enjoyed more if the sun wasn't so strong, not the fault of the tour or the guide though.

This was a magnificent tour. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, a virtual history lesson. Every question answered and new insights given. She made Ancient Rome come to life. The small group, 4 people, was better than expected, we lucked out I guess. Our guide showed us those things only a guide would know about. Those little things that increase understanding. Highly recommend this tour company.

Very good tour. Our guide was an historian and very knowledgable. Crowded but to be expected in April. Underground was interesting. Learned alot more about the history than if we did the visit on our own. She also recommended a great place for gelato after!

As with the Vatican, small group skip the line tours are the absolute best for this attraction. There are just so many people. Be prepared for a lot of walking and hills as the Ancient Rome part of this tour is all uphill - not for those who have a difficult time with stairs. Very knowledgeable tour guide and we enjoyed the undergound part of the tour - such incredible ancient history.

What we saw was good but....... The meeting point was by the metro station. We arrived as instructed in good time for a 13:30 start. As there were so many groups being organised we didn't start on time. Our guide, who was very knowledgeable and had a good command of English, told us that as our slot for the Colosseum Underground and Arena wasn't until 15:45 that we would start by going to the Roman Forum - so off we headed. After queuing for around 40 minutes we entered the Roman Forum but immediately headed towards the Palatine Hill and only looked down on the Forum. We were disappointed not to have been able to walk around the Forum but this was probably because entry took so long. We had around an hour looking around the Palatine Hill and down to the Forum and down to the Circus Maximus. At 15:20 we left the Palatine Hill and were taken to the Colosseum to await our entry slot to the Colosseum. For this part of the tour the booking instructions indicated that the entry to the Colosseum may be shared with other participants for the Livitaly slot. We did not expect that the group would become over 40 people. The guide for this had a poor command of English and just kept saying "just imagine"! There were two young children in the group and the guide only seemed interested in them. Our entry time got delayed and we eventually entered some 40 minutes after our entry slot and around an hour after leaving the Palatine Hill. We had less than 10 minutes in the Arena and less than 10 minutes underground - fifteen minutes in total - significantly less than the 30-40 minutes indicated on the booking confirmation. No apology for the waiting around. The tour finished slightly late. We were told that we could spend as long as we wanted looking round the Colosseum, but as it closed at 17:30 there was insufficient time to do everything we wanted. The confirmation of the tour stated that as well as entry to Palatine Hill (which happened); the Roman Forum (could only look at this and not explore); the Colosseum (15 minutes of the tour) that there was entry to the Foro diAugusto. We never went anywhere near this. When we asked our guide we were fobbed off. Livitaly Tours who provided the tour need to up their game significantly.

Visiting the Colosseum and Forum is arguably the top attraction in Rome so I wanted to really make it count! And this tour surpassed my expectations. Our group was only six people, and we really were the very first people into the Colosseum in the morning! Our guide, Davide, was a native Roman and was so knowledgeable about each of the three destinations, pointing out things you wouldn't find in the guide books. He answered all of our questions and really cared about giving us a personalized tour. Sure, there are many options but I highly recommend visiting these remarkable sites with LivItaly! It was really worth it!

Palatine Hill, Forum, an the underground of the colosseum... top of colosseum we departed from guide and were able to tour museum and artifacts on our own before exiting. Underground only possible through group tours. There was a time change 2 weeks before the tour and Viator was promp, professional in making sure the change was ok and that we received our updated itinerary.

Great trip and Thomas our guide was very informative who made the hole experience a day to remember.

The tour was awesome and much better than the large groups of individuals who did the larger tours. We never had to wait in line and we got to see areas that most other people didnt get to see like the underground cells and rooms where the animals and gladiators lived. Our tour guide Rachel was very knowledgeable about the history of Rome and was able to answer all questions which other people on the tour had about the areas we toured. This small group tour is definitely worth the money to get a full perspective of all of the stories behind the ancient ruins and the history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Very pleased!

We absolutely loved our Small Group Tour with LivItaly. Rich, our guide, had no accent, which was great because he was easily understandable and had so much information to convey. We loved getting to be on the Arena floor and go to the level the gladiators and animals entered. Palatine Hill was made alive by Rich's explanations. We had originally thought 3 hours would be too long, but we left wishing we had had more time for more stories and facts.

Rachel had all the attributes required for the perfect tour guide, she was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and had the best personality. Not sure what LivItaly Tours are paying Rachel, but it’s not enough. Recommendation – demand her.

This tour was well worth the money! Our tour guide, Maria Helena was outstanding! She was incredibly knowledgeable and so interesting. The small group tour made it much easier to ask many questions and learn so much more. We visited the Colosseum and the underground area where the Gladiators and animals lived, which was extremely interesting. The tour also included the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. The tour was easy to book and the meeting point was very easy to find. It was all very well organised and we would definitely recommend booking this tour

Our family loved this tour! Santi was a great guide; kept our kids age 9 and 10 interested throughout the entire tour!

This was a great choice for a tour. We were supposed to be a part of a small group. The others cancelled and we got a personal tour. David, our guide was great an really knowledgeable about the area!