Rome Tours and Vatican Tours

Shore Excursions Rome have become popular, and not just with passengers arriving in Civitavecchia. Cruise ships to Rome are regarded as floating cash points by some of the bigger italian limo services and their ever-so-smart drivers. They've really hogged the limelight in recent years and charge an arm and a leg for a quick drive (and some kind of tour) to Rome and back. This is a service standard in dire need of improvements and we are working extremely hard to do our bit! Our own shore excursions to Rome from Civitavecchia and back are of a very high standard indeed. We now offer top quality Italy shore excursions and port transfers from Messina, Palermo, Venice, and Livorno too.

We are hoping that our Vatican City tours this year will be as popular as ever, if not more so. They are unique in that the sheer volume of works of art in the Vatican Museums means that it is essential to book with the right tour agency. Always, always book your Vatican tours through a local agency. Booking online through a major tour operator is not recommended, they hire freelance guides they'll never meet who greet their customers on a street corner near the Vatican they've never seen - it will only end in tears!

A final word about TA! TripAdvisor Rome used to be a paragon of virtue in so far as reviews of Rome and Vatican tours were concerned, but now, no one cares. TA has become a drawing board for illegal guides to write their way to the top.

Official Vatican Tours

Official Vatican tours? Few and far between online. You are almost guaranteed an unofficial Vatican tour if you book on any one of the vast majority of websites which sell unlicensed small group tours using unlicensed tour guides, all of whom meet on street corners close to the museums in order to avoid prying eyes.

For lots of useful information about official Vatican tours and visiting Rome in general, head over to our website or join 3,000 others on Facebook :-)

See the Vatican with the official Vatican Tours agency in Rome

To book an official Vatican tour online is easily done. You may also call in to our customer service center Mon - Sat until 14:00 PM and join a small group Vatican tour without booking in advance if you so wish. We are based at Via Sebastiano Veniero 21 which is less than 100 metres away from the Vatican Museums entrance. When In Rome Tours is the leading independent Vatican tours provider in Rome. All our tours of Rome and the rest of Italy are of an exceptionally high standard.

Lux in Arcana

Between February and September 2012, some one hundred never seen before documents from the Vatican archives will be on display in the Capitoline Museums. "Lux in Arcana - Secret Vatican Archives Revealed" (you can bet your bottom dollar they won't be for a long while yet), a thinly veiled attempt by the Vatican to proffer transparency in the public domain amidst ongoing debate about Pope Pius XII's unwillingness to help those who perished in the Holocaust and Final Solution, which raged unchecked in the early years of his 1939 - 1958 papacy, may be worth a look.

A parchment with red wax seals from the English Parliament dates back to 1530, imploring Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Permission was not granted, and the Church of England came into being. Missives from the trial of Galileo Galilei's 'heresy' will also see the light of day. However, only a miniscule quantity of documents have been tagged for the exhibition on Campidoglio, which serves only to propagate the intrigue and mystery which surrounds the secretive Vatican state. No one can say exactly where the closely guarded collection is located within the towering walls of the Vatican city, but we do know that it has existed for well over 1,000 years, ergo it stands to reason that they must be hiding something. We'll never know what, or why. It seems that the mythos surrounding Dan Brown's Angels and Demons is set to stand the test of time, and may not have been too wide of the mark of truth after all. We'll be extending our Vatican tours to include the exhibition early next year.

Vatican Tours

New early bird Vatican tours ready to book at When In Rome Tours - 3 hours, early Sistine Chapel extended between May and October.

Wine Tours Rome

When In Rome Tours are now running day trips to a wine producing facility near Frascati. Many Romans enjoy the flavours of both red and white wines from Rieti, Valmontone, and the ancient Etruscan town of Cerveteri. For visitors to Rome, however, the conveniently closer towns which together comprise the Castelli Romani, an area renowned for highly regarded DOC white wines Novello, Superiore, and Novello Superiore, are more appealing.

Frascati is the best known town in the Castelli Romani. It's location, amidst a beautiful expanse of forests and lakes, is just 18 kms south of Rome. The twin crater lakes of Albano and Nemi are nearby, both of which proffer splendid panoramic views. Delicious food and delectable wines have made Frascati a magnet for city dwellers in the hot summer months of July and August.

Our private wine tour departs Rome along the Appian Way and passes by the vineyards of Marino, another town famous for the production of white wine, then continues on to Frascati where we spend half a day in the grounds of local wine producing villa Tenimento di Casamara.

The villa was built over a 1st Century AD settlement in the same location as a 300 year old farm used for olive oil production. Here we can see how wine is made, stroll through the vineyards, and taste the final product.

Lunch is taken in the grounds. Options include visits to the towns of Ariccia, Genzano, Velletri and Montecompatri for more wine tasting and sightseeing. Picturesque Ariccia and Genzano proffer outstanding views of the Tyrrhenian sea. Ariccia, steeped in myth and legend, is mentioned in the prologue and epilogue of Frazer's Golden Bough, which introduces the reader to the high priestess Diana Nemorensis. Diana's image has adorned wine bottles and amphorae produced in the area since Rome's republican era.

When In Rome Tours now offer a selection of private wine tasting excursions in Grottaferrata, and introductory tastings in Rome's ancient city centre.

For more information, visit our website.