Our Private Tours are of two types:

1. Vatican, Ancient Glory and Heart of Rome Tours with your own, personal guide. This is for those of you who want to visit the must-see sights but prefer following your own rhythm, without the limits of a group tour.

2. Customized tours composed by you and our Tour Designers. We fill your special requests and are prepared to give suggestions where needed. As with all private tours, the schedule and destinations are up to you and the resources and energy you have at our disposal.

For tours of the first type, we ask that you contact us using the form below indicating the name of the tour(s), the number of participants (adults, students, kids, seniors) and the preferred date(s). We will get back to you within 24 hours with availability and pricing information.

For customized tours, you might imagine that the offering is vast or even endless considering Rome’s rich artistic, architectural, historical, culinary heritage. Please contact us using the form below and let us know what you have imagined for your visit. Our Tour Team will get back to you within 24 hours to discuss your tour in more detail.

To give you a tiny taste of what awaits you, we have included a selection of photographs in a slideshow. If instead you are inspired by reading, here are some of our suggestions from our own treasure trove of Roman touring experience. The sites are loosely categorized for ease of reading, but each of them obviously has a great range of aspects that make them valuable for any visitor.

For those interested in Architecture:

A stroll along the Appian Way, Ancient Rome’s most famous burial road will give you a chance to visit the Circus of Maxentius, his son’s Mausoleum of Romulus, the gigantic Tomb of Cecilia Metella and the newly excavated Capo di Bove Archaeological area (2008). The romantic setting of this cypress lined Roman road will give you a glimpse of Imperial architecture and Life and Death in ancient Rome. Here you are in the company of Shelly and Keats, Goethe and Poussin as you get a tranquil perspective on antiquity that gets you away from the hustle and bustle of the modern city. Fabulous dining or pick-nick nearby.

Right in the center of the modern city, St. Mary and the Angels and the Imperial Baths of Diocletian form the ever present reminders of the glory of Ancient and Christian Rome. Here the grandest of the Empire meets Michaelangelo’s Renaissance genius as he was entrusted with building a church right into the crumbling ruins of the bath’s calidarium. The remaining structure of the vast bath house complex, once the playground of senators, magistrates, liberati (freed slaves) and ordinary citizens, today forms a museum complex where original Greek and Roman sculptures enliven your visit.

Rome’s enigmatic Baroque has left an indelible mark on contemporary Rome. To explore this fanciful style there is no better track to follow than the long-lived rivalry of two master architects and city planners:Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini. Following their stories you can explore masterpieces such as Santa Maria della Vittoria, San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, the Four Rivers Fountain in Piazza Navona and of course St. Peter’s Basilica and Square.

The Roman countryside, where time passes slowly, holds other unparalleled treasures only few visitors get to see. Majestic ruins that have been converted to sumptuous country villas, temples that are the bases for abbeys and churches, vast complexes that are yet to be excavated and identified. Some of the finest examples are: the town of Palestrina, whose entire modern fiber is built upon and into the most monumental of roman temples, that of the Primordial Goddess of Good Fortune (Fortuna Primigenia); Tivoli with Emperor Hadrian’s sumptuous personal Estate, Villa Adriana, the Baroque Villa d’Este with it’s fine, cascading gardens, and Villa Gregoriana, the former papal residence and park with it’s natural waterfalls and ancient pagan temples; Ostia Antica, Rome’s ancient seaport, with its baths, working amphitheater (summer concert series) and archeological evidence of the great commercial importance it once held; Albano, who’s second century walls and gates, temples, tombs, cisterns and amphitheater remind us of the origins of the town, housing for roman legions ever ready to conquer new territories.

For Sculpture and Painting Lovers:

There is virtually no area of old Rome that doesn’t have a significant sculpture or painting within a few feet of it. Every church and monastery, palace, unassuming office building and even hotels will hold at least a piece or two of marble, bronze, plaster, canvas or fresco graced by some masterful hand or the other. Some of the greatest collections are housed in the finest of family palaces: The Galleria Borghese Museum in its own wonderful park setting; the country palace, Palazzo Barberini, National Antiquities Museum, which now sits in Rome’s city center; the small but most important Palazzo Altemps, to name a few.

No less spectacular are the frescoes, mosaics and altar pieces found in Roman churches which date as far back as the fourth century. Fine examples can be found in hundreds of them, here are just a sprinkling of highlights: Santa Maria del Popolo, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva , St. Ignatius Loyola, Santa Maria della Pace and Santa Maria della Vittoria where Bernin’s Theresa still thrills with divine ecstasy.

For History Buffs:

Almost no need to mention that with three millennia of Rome and counting, we have a bit to offer in this department. With metaphorical hills and valleys, Rome has been occupied since before the Golden Age of Greek civilization and a characteristic of many sites is their continuous reuse over the centuries. Structures have been built, abandoned, destroyed, reused or rebuilt with different purposes and materials, bringing about complex transformations or adaptations of the old. Often new buildings have been erected on older ones, causing a continual rise of the street level and creating a multi-layered city, where every building has its story and every basement its secrets.

The maximum effect of the complex stratification of Rome’s city fiber can best be appreciated in the following places, some just recently made available to the public: The Crypta Balbi and Museum which encompass part of an ancient theater; the Basilica of San Clemente which has its roots in a 4th Century paleochristian church and contains a 1st century temple to the Persian god Mitra and a subterranean river to boot; the Case Romane on the Celian hill, where archeological excavations have revealed a roman insula (city quarter) with porticoes, taverns and residences on the upper floor, two rich domus (patrician homes) with private baths, a decorated nymphaeum and elegantly painted rooms, and Christian frescoes indicating the presence of a primitive church or titulus.

For those in search of Rome’s Christian beginnings:

Rome’s extensive Christian catacombs give you a glimpse of the lives and customs of the first western Christians, many of whom were persecuted and publicly executed by roman Emperors. Just a short drive from the city center towards the famed Appian Way, you can visit the catacombs of San Callisto, San Sebastian and Santa Domitilla, whose multi-storied, subterranean galleries held the earthly remains of early Rome’s martyrs, first popes, bishops and countless Christians. Places of pilgrimage over the centuries, their early Christian fresco paintings still remind us today of the faith and fervor of people who lived at a a time when Christ was known by few and Christianity was considered a heresy.

We look forward to working out the perfect itinerary for your visit and thank you for choosing Key Rome for your Private and Custom Tour needs.

Private Tour Contact Form