Italy With Family | Colosseum Tours | Vatican Tours — Local services in Rome

Avoid Italy With Family (IWF) at all costs. They are frauds. We were told via WhatsApp 2 days prior that the Colosseum allegedly changed our booking time from 10:45 to 11:30am. I replied immediately saying we could miss our train and asked if I should change it. I never got a reply so I changed our train time at a cost of €51.

On the day we caught a taxi and the driver frustratingly took us to the opposite side of where we needed to go and we needed to get another taxi to get to the right location. I messaged IWF by WhatsApp, called via WhatsApp, emailed and called their landline and was unable to tell them I was going to be a few minutes late. I am not pretending for a second that I am not somewhat at fault for being late. My point is that it was irrelevant and this is explained below.

Upon arrival by taxi we were 3 minutes late, by the time we talked to Norman in the IWF office it was 5-7 minutes after the tour start time. He immediately told us that he “just got word that the tour group was already inside the Colosseum”. After some back and forth he then “kindly” offered to put us in an inferior tour at 12:45pm. We waited around for this tour and were there at 12:30pm where we were told to wait and went on that tour.

While waiting for the second tour to start we met 2 other couples. 1 was on their honeymoon who also missed the 10:45am time and also said they never got a message about the change to 11:30am. They said they arrived at 10:15am and were told they had missed the 10:45am tour. The other couple arrived at 10:00am and were told they missed the 10:45am tour too. Arriving 30 and 45 minutes early for a tour and somehow missing it clearly indicates that this was a scam from the beginning.

The secondary tour we all went on was the arena tour which spent 17 minutes outside of the Colosseum before heading inside and had about 20 people in it. The tour headphone audio quality was also poor and it was hard to understand.

While walking to the Colosseum with this tour, I realised that it is logistically impossible to make it inside the Colosseum from the IWF office in less than 6 minutes which is what Norman claimed had happened when I missed my tour. I asked if I could catch up with the group and he said the ticket is a special printed list with all names on it. Why would a VIP small group tour guide leave earlier than 10am for an 11:30am tour (changed from 10:45am) if 6 members of the small group hadn’t arrived? Did they listen to another couple keen to get going an hour and a half earlier?

It’s also apparent that it was IWF changing the time to 11:30am to suit them, not the Colosseum alerting them of a change, so they unnecessarily cost me €51 in train fare change costs.

After speaking to the two other couples it is clear that this is a fraudulent practice that is more than likely common place. This is surely illegal activity. I could have been there at 6am and still missed the tour as the tour never existed. It’s overt fraud. If this was in Australia I would report this company to the relevant...

DON'T DO IT!! After eight years of anticipation and careful planning for what was supposed to be a dream visit to the Colosseum (I'm an Architect and my husband is an Engineer), our experience was profoundly marred by a series of mismanagements and a lack of professionalism from "Italy with Family" (and “Rome with Family”) Firstly, the lack of foresight regarding the annual Rome Marathon—a recurring event since 1995—was baffling. Our group was instructed to meet at 8:30 AM for a 9:15 AM entry into the Colosseum, yet by 9:20 AM, we were still awaiting departure at the meeting point, with their team completely lost and zombifying like cockroaches around. We got to the Colosseum by 9:50 AM. They had NO CLUE how to cross the Marathon and access the Colosseum. The guide's response to this setback was both inadequate and unprofessional. There seemed to be no pre-planned alternative route around the marathon disruption. It fell upon us, the visitors, to seek directions from the guards, which is unacceptable given the premium we pay for guided tours. Upon reaching the Colosseum an hour late, our guide informed us, quite bluntly, that we would miss the underground tour but would be reimbursed 30% of the fee. Efforts to discuss the matter were met with rudeness and an adamant stance that nothing further could be done. We tried to talk to him, but he was adamant and gross, saying that he could not do anything, as he is just the guide. We could either get the 30% refund or just go home and get 100%. LOVELY!!!!! We got our tickets with the platform "Get Your Guide", so we reached out to them, and even they were not able to talk to anyone from "Italy with Family", who was providing this tour. I still recommend "Get Your Guide"; the app is great, and the live attendants go far and beyond trying to help you, always professionally. Continuing on the disaster tour: This guide didn't share more than 5 curiosities about the Colosseum, took us to the main floor, spent 15 min, then took us to the upper floor, another 15 min, and then took us to the Palatine Hill, which, anyone who knows history, knows that you can spend the whole day inside and you can't see it all. Well, he took us to a highest point to take a nice picture and said farewell. That was it. He didn’t know where the restrooms were, nor where I could get a snack or water. Thank God we requested our tickets from him because he told us that we could walk around not needing the tickets and, by the end of the day, we had to use them to get to SEVERAL places inside the Palatine Hill. We spent more than 5 hours inside... Honestly, you're better off purchasing tickets independently (€24) and opting for an audio guide than choosing this company. This approach, though less personal, guarantees access to the monument's full breadth of history and ensures you're not at the mercy of poor planning and indifferent service. They absolutely...

After eight years of anticipation and careful planning for what was supposed to be a dream visit to the Colosseum, our experience was profoundly marred by a series of mismanagements and a lack of professionalism from "Italy with Family".

Firstly, the lack of foresight regarding the annual Rome Marathon—a recurring event since 1995—was baffling. Our group was instructed to meet at 8:30 AM for a 9:15 AM entry into the Colosseum, yet by 9:20 AM, we were still awaiting departure at the meeting point. We got to the Colosseum by 9:50 AM.

They had NO CLUE on how to cross the Marathon and access the Colosseum. The guide's response to this setback was both inadequate and unprofessional. There seemed to be no pre-planned alternative route around the marathon disruption. It fell upon us, the visitors, to seek directions from the guards, which is unacceptable given the premium we pay for guided tours.

Upon reaching the Colosseum an hour late, our guide informed us, quite bluntly, that we would miss the underground tour but would be reimbursed 30% of the fee. Efforts to discuss the matter were met with rudeness and an adamant stance that nothing further could be done.

We tried to talk to him but he was adamant and gross, saying that he could not do anything. We could either get the 30% refund or just go home and get 100%.

We got our tickets with the platform "Get your Guide", so we reached to them and even them were not able to talk to anyone from "Italy with Family", who was providing this tour.

This guide didn't say more than 5 curiosities about the Colosseum, took us to the main floor, spent 15 min, then took us to the up floor, another 15 min, and then took us to the Palantine Hill, which, anyone who knows history, knows that you can spend the whole day inside and you cant see it all. Well, he took us to a highest point to take a nice picture and said farewell. That was it.

Thank God we requested our tickets form him, cause he told us that we could walk around not needing the tickets and, end of the day, we had to use it to get to SEVERAL places inside the Palantine Hill. We spent more 5h inside ...

Honestly, you're better off purchasing tickets independently and opting for an audio guide than choosing this company. This approach, though less personal, guarantees access to the monument's full breadth of history and ensures you're not at the mercy of poor planning and...