From Milan

Vatican museum tour - not worth the money

This is a very expensive tour and not worth the money. We had an early morning tour time, so the museum ticket-line was not that long; we hardly skipped the line. We only got a tour of the museum; St. Peter's was closed because it was on a Wednesday. There are no tours in the Sistine Chapel, because no talking is allowed in there. There were 18 people in our group, which I think is too large. Our guide was very boring. After the museum tour, she talked about the Sistine Chapel for two minutes and then left us; she was done. Save your money; buy your own museum tickets and get an audio guide.

had a fabulous morning with Stephan leading us across the hill tops behind Florence. A great walk in some beautiful county which ended at a great villa. Definitely recommend it and Stephan is a great guide

Excellent, highly knowledgeable and professional

I am currently in Italy and last week was in Florence where I used their services for four tours: First Original Florence Walk, then Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery, Original David Academia Tour and last Best of Tuscany with Volterra. I cannot say enough good things about them. The guides were native English speakers, they were highly knowledgeable and experienced about their subject, and all were very pleasant and helpful. None of the groups I was in last week were very big the largest about 13 or 14. When there was a larger group they split it in half and brought in another guide. They used a radio type communication device in all but one of these groups which worked extremely well for me, since I have a hearing problem and wear hearing aides. The "Best of Tuscanny with Volterra" tour had only three participants even though the minimum states at leasts four. It was the best tour of their offerings and all were great. This is the best company I have used in all my traveling.

Two tours with Klaus - David and the walking tour of Florence, one with Helen - Uffizi, and a day in Tuscany with Stephan were all absolutely superb. They were totally knowledgeable, attentive, and timely. We had heard of your company from a colleague. Her recommendation of excellence was totally accurate, and we will be more than happy to pass your name to others whenever possible.

Big waste of time and money

The description of the tour is not what we got. We booked a tour for a Wednesday and were informed at the start of the tour that we would not be seeing St Peter's because the Pope holds audience on Wednesday's and the Bascilica is closed. This was a big waste of money; we are very disappointed!

I took two tours with Art Viva, and multiple tours with Aventurra Bellisima. Art Viva outperforms hands down. Their tour guides (Elizabeta and Klaus) were fantastic-- knowledgable, engaging, entertaining, and particularly Klaus on art-- he is a superstar art and history teacher. Also, the tour sizes were small <8. (Regrettably only one of Aventurra guides spoke English with sufficient facility to make the tour comprehensible and tour sizes were large 10-20). If I could do it again, I would have chosen Art Viva for all the tours.

Fantastic

We recently did 3 tours in Florence with Artviva and these were the most informative tours I have been on. In addition to the excellent information, you could tell that the guides LOVED their job. It was a pleasure to be on tours that were so interesting and with such enthusiastic and pleasant guides. I recommend this to anyone wanting to really learn about Florence , its art and its history and meaning.