When in Rome....

[StanandJim]

Hi Again, Everybody!

We need another advice lifeline from the "old salts" out there.....please!

Does anyone know of a really good guide for Florence? Or, even more importantly, for Rome?

 

What would be on your "must do" lists for these cities? :confused:

 

What is the status of the leaning tower, these days, is it still closed to the public? We've heard stories about the entire plaza being closed.

 

Another thought: Are the "Rome" guides living in Cittevechia, or, do they drive in very early and home again at night? :eek:

 

Final Question: For a Tour that's costing between 115 and 150 Euro's per person, for a 6 or 8 hour excursion, how much does one tip? I know, I know, you're going to tell me that it depends on the service I got from the guide.....however, should I be thinking 15% to 20% like in a restaurant? Perhaps each person just gives a ten or twenty Euro Note?

I'm sort of the lead person in our group (by default, I assure you!), so, I'd love to know a ballpark percentage, or, a flat amount that would be perceived as generous.

Thanks, All!

[joan24]

I have a wonderful guide for Florence. She's an American who has lived in Florence for about 25 years. Her name is Pauline Priore and she's great. You can email her at paulinep@tin.it.

The guides we've used in Rome live there and drive into Civitavecchia early in the morning. We've booked Claudio from Civitavecchia. We're touring with him in May. His web is: http://www.limoinrome.com and his email is : claudio@limoinrome.com.

I think you're right about 15% to 20% as a tip depending on how good your guide is. Have fun.

Joan

[ClaudiaF]

Wrote in part:

 

Does anyone know of a really good guide for Florence?

Or, even more importantly, for Rome?

We have used a few different guides on our Italy trips.

The one we used last summer was just mentioned , Claudio ( guess I just liked his name ;-) kidding. We have also used Daniele, Max Leotta)both

terrific) just found that Claudios price worked out better so we went with him. All are fantastic, all use Mercedes vans that hold 6 plus driver comfortably.

We used another Max ( Papillon service tours) for Pisa and Florence from Livorno but I know he also does from everywhere else so you might email him too to see his prices.

Here are all the websites so you can compare.. basically all offer the same tours.

Claudio

http://www.limoinrome.com/home.htm

 

Daniele

http://www.driverinrome.com/centro.htm

 

Max

http://www.papillonservice.com/index.htm

 

Max Leotta

maxleotta@tiscali.it

 

 

What would be on your "must do" lists for these cities? Everything!

 

 

What is the status of the leaning tower, these days, is it still closed to the public? We've heard stories about the entire plaza being closed.

It was open when we were there May.

 

Another thought: Are the "Rome" guides living in Cittevechia, or, do they drive in very early and home again at night?

Some live in Rome others just go to where their customers are. Say if someone is coming into Livorno they go there and spend the night ( hotel).

They said that usually if one tour one day next day another ships so they do it again. Must work out.

 

Final Question: For a Tour that's costing between 115 and 150 Euro's per person, for a 6 or 8 hour excursion, how much does one tip?

About 10EU per person is what we have done

Have a wonderful trip!

[douganswerphone]

We've used Paolo Appolloni 3 times when in Civitavechia, and have been quite pleased. Paolo has several different "Rome in a Day" tours depending upon what you want to see. There's way too much to see everything in one day; as Paolo explained it, a typical tourist has very limited time, and his job is to guide through Rome at the rate of about 300 years per hour. A very knowledgeable guy with excellent English, who happens to be very efficient at getting you in and around Rome, where an unguided tourist could easily waste half the day just finding stuff.

 

If you've done Rome a time or two, he also has countryside tours through Umbria, etc.

 

His "standard" tours and pricing are on his website.

 

http://www.drivinguide.com/ciao.htm

[JimandStan]

Thank you for all the help. We've booked guides for Florence and Rome based on your wonderful advice!

Now, we need to think about Corsica.......

((Sigh)) it's always something!

The people on this board are the best!

[ClaudiaF]

Thank you for all the help. We've booked guides for Florence and Rome based on your wonderful advice!

Now, we need to think about Corsica.......

((Sigh)) it's always something!

The people on this board are the best!

 

Oh I love Corsica! Best party city anywhere, unfortunately ship gets there in am and I am sure leaves before anyone who "parties" wakes up on the island ;-) tons of Napoleon influence , little trains etc.. Little..but...

Problem on our last cruise we were supposed to go there but water was to rough ( tendering) so we were taken to a cute little town called Ponte Vechio( note Italian , vino same name ;-)......

where there were free shuttles into the villlage (nice).. there were a few crafty type of shops and a jewelry store or 2 ( who made out like it was Xmas, since they weren't expecting 600 folks that day ;-).. and a bunch of really pretty restaurants ( Esp. the terraced ones over the water).. you can't tell from street, so if you see a menu on the outside walk in and sniff around

lunch at any that over look the water and( ship in harbor below).. they have terraces and basically fish, pizza and local yum wine.. and just a lovely place to be..

Have fun!

[JimandStan]

Oh No! We thought that we had our day in Rome all sewn up with Paolo Appolino, however, he suddenly stopped answering e-mails!

Now, the man is entitled to a few days off (if that's what it is!), but we're freaking out!

Has anybody been dealing with Paolo in the last 2 weeks?

Thanks-

Jim & Stan

[zebra]

Just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth. We used Claudio in both Rome and Florence this past September and he was OUTSTANDING!!!! So much so we have booked him this September again. He's extremely knowledgable and very flexible. He gave us 2 awesome tours and when he dropped us off back at the ship at the end of the tour (playing and singing Arrivederci Roma) he gave us each a bottle of Chianti. We had such fun with him, he knows so many people in Florence and took us to a friends' "Bottle Store" where we purchased plenty local wine and Olive Oil. He also took us to a friend's restaurant in Rome where we had a great family style lunch. He comes highly recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!