Dear Sir / Madam: We wanted to thank you for the wonderful experience we had during our VIP Colosseum Tour on Friday, September 15. Our tour Guide, Mr. Dario Andreucci, is a national treasure. Not only did Mr. Anderucci know all the names and dates to give context to the Roman antiquities we were exploring; But his passion for “dispelling the myths” of ancient Rome made for a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience. Dario also helped us secure tickets for an unscheduled stop using his own cell phone and funds. Because I am disabled, he personally escorted me and my wife through Colosseum shortcuts to a safe taxi-stand. Dario’s professionalism, job-knowledge, and service-first ethic are a credit to your organization. We have already recommended Viator to several friends and family members. Thank you again for a wonderful experience, DWF of St. Louis, Missouri, USA

We had the private food tour Trastevere with Dario, he is an amazing guide, super nice, fluent English, great knowledge about the history, culture and food. Strongly recommended.

We were really looking forward to the virtual reality tour of the Colosseum in Rome. Our guide Dario met more than all expectations. It was a fantasic experience for our three teenagers and ourselves. Dario is very passionate and clearly knows what he is talking about. Worth repeating!

Dario is an excellent tourist guide, with an extraordinary and uncommon knowledge of the history and art history of Rome. But his best characteristic is his ability to convey historical information in clear language and in a very appealing way. The very detailed VR system Dario offers contributes to the whole experience, giving you a realistic picture of what Ancient Rome was like.

My family of four spent our first morning in Rome doing a food tour with Dario. What a fantastic way to start seeing Rome as we visited different shops, learned the difference between freshly baked breakfast pastries and the other factory baked ones. Absolutely amazing pizza, pasta and a visit to the markets. My personal highlights (besides breakfast) was talking to the owner at Casa Manco in the markets about how to make outstanding pizza in a city of pizza shops. The other was taste testing the most outstanding balsamic vinegars that had been aged like a good wine for five, ten, even 15 years. My biggest regret is most definitely not buying some straight away, thinking I shouldn’t be shopping in my first 12 hours of being in Rome. My advice is to buy now and think later as I never saw anything like it again! Thank you Dario. You were fantastic and were instrumental in ensuring we ate at fantastic places throughout our week due to your thoughtful recommendations.I might add that Dario was extremely easy to communicate with, responded to all my inquiries very promptly before the tour and his speciality is that he wants your whole time in Rome to be magical and recommends places to eat or go during your stay. The kids thought he was fantastic and we all had a morning to remember.

To recommend this is an understatement. Dario is not only informative and very knowledgeable, but thought provoking. He clearly has a passion for his intimate experience he gives you. You can cut through the b.s. topical questions and really drill down into actual roman life during this time in this place. Not some mindless "look there" , "now look here", guide. My fiance and I were very privileged to be on a private tour, due to some extenuating circumstances, but even without private tour he limits the size of groups (10, I believe) to make a truly focused, personal experience. I would say the VR sets it above any other experience, but that would be discounting Dario's knowledge, personality, and hospitality. Aren't enough stars to recommend!

Dario took my wife and me on a day tour of Rome that included the Coliseum, the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's, the Pantheon, and other sites and neighborhoods. He customized it to meet our needs (we don't like to linger) and to avoid the sun. He is not only knowledgeable and fluent in English, but very engaging, so the day was enjoyable as well as informative. We recommend him highly for any tour of Rome!

My husband and I were recommended to Dario from my family who had previously visited and toured with Dario telling us we must book with him; and were they right. We started our Roman holiday with the Food Tour in Testaccio. This tour was such a great experience to learn the future and everyday life the Italians live. The food was incredible, and Dario had so much knowledge and passion for this town which made the experience perfect. You must experience this with Dario, he is the best!

Having been to Rome before, I knew how important it is to have an excellent guide to bring the history of this amazing city to life. Dario did that for us and more. We actually went on three tours with Dario: the Vatican, Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere tour, and the Colosseum/Roman Forum. Dario has been a guide for over 10 years, and his experience shows. He is incredibly knowledgeable in multiple facets regarding Rome's history. In fact, the more we asked questions, the more he was able to learn our area of interest, and he would tailor the tour to match our areas of curiosity. But just having a strong knowledge-base is not where his talents end. Dario was able to masterfully avoid long lines at the Vatican and Colosseum. He was also able to bring us to the areas at those locations that were fascinating but not flooded with large tour groups. During our stay in Rome, Dario had the added challenge of dealing with the 90+ degree heat. He knew exactly how to handle this situation by always bringing us to shade and places to refill water. As an additional challenge, we were with my father and husband who both have back issues. Dario was exceptionally considerate of their needs and took elevators or easier paths wherever possible. On top of it all, he is a lovely person who is just easy to be with. He has a calm and poised demeanor, making it a pleasure to be with him through the day. One last compliment I want to pay Dario is that he is incredibly responsive to questions leading up to the tour date. I booked Dario as our guide a year in advance, and over the course of the year, I had various questions about preparations or recommendations. Dario always got back to me quickly and with helpful responses. I knew we were in good hands before we even got to Rome. Dario brought Rome to life for my family. Thank you, Dario!

I was so fortunate! Ended up just Dario and myself as others did not show. This did not effect the tour at all. It was like an old friend showing me around his neighborhood and stopping in for snacks. While the food was great my favorite part was when we say down with gelato in the square and just talked about the neighborhood and saw the local residents enjoying the Saturday morning. Thanks Dario for making Rome personal to me both with food and experiance!

It was our third visit to Rome ( my wife keeps throwing coins in that fountain), we only had a couple of days before boarding a cruise out of the Port of Civitavecchia. We were attracted to "Mind the Guide" walks after reading some very good reviews. We booked the walk with Dario for early one morning in an attempt to beat the crowds. As it turned out my wife and I were the only customers. But that was not an issue with Dario. So were got an extremely personalised tour. First up was the Colosseum. Even early in the morning the queue's were enormous, however Dario's expert knowledge guided us through the crowd to some gates where he new the entrance staff by name. We were inside in a very reasonable amount of time. Excellent tour of the Colosseum ensured with thorough history of the building, the life of the Romans , the emperors , the gladiators and animals brought to the games. Loved it. Next it was onto the Forum which a huge area with many building which Dario covered extensively in his colourful talk. Finally it was up to the Palatine Hill for its gardens and amazing views of Rome. In a couple of hours, we got to know Dario quite well. He is a lovely fellow with great knowledge and passion for his job. Thoroughly recommend Dario and the "Mind the guide" tour. Especially if your time in Rome is short.

Three of us walked, eat & drank our way around Testaccio with Dario, on a private walking food tour. Firstly, I am very glad that we didn’t have breakfast before as there is more than enough to eat during the 3 hour walk. We started by having coffee & croissant at a very special pasticceria and followed that up with an amazing selection of Characters, Providores Cooks & Shopkeepers. All places that I have never visited and I have been lucky enough to visit Rome a number of times. We joked, we ate, we discussed cultures and food but most importantly we had a great time. The next evening we did another walking tour with Dario, this time in Trastevere. Again Dario was an entertaining, informative and personable guide. Again, we went to places that we would never have found on our own - not with all of the research in the world. We have done a number of food tours & experiences around the world and without doubt, Mind The Guide with Dario is right up there with the best. Do yourself a favour and book something!

We booked Dario because friends of ours had used him for one tour. We booked him for 3 days in Rome because we were only there for 1 week and we were traveling with our son who has autism. Dario made our trip! We did the Colloseum and Roman Forum one day, food tour another day and then finally the Vatican and St. Peter’s. We learned so much about the history and culture in those 3 days. He was wonderful with our son and gave us restaurant suggestions that were always outstanding! His knowledge of the Vatican and the catholic religion put this former catholic to shame. I am studying up on the Roman history and can’t wait to go back!

This review is way overdue. We were small group with kids and teenagers, and we traveled to Italy in August 2018, Dario was perfect guide during our trip. To begin with, he was timely and responsive to the emails and inquiries; suggested better options and worked around schedule that fits our group wishes. Once on the tour, Dario’s deep knowledge of architecture and history made our tours more special than we even expected. He was able to involve kids, keep them interesting and open to conversation. He walked us through not only common area but some hidden gems and outer city points of interest. During the tour he surrounded our group with his energy and in the busy and full of tourist city we almost felt like being in the bubble where outsiders weren’t able to distract us. Thank you Dario for this wonderful experience and great time in Rome.

We were two senior couples who were only in Rome for a day and wanted to see as much as possible. An additional issue was that we were on a cruise ship that docked approximately 1.5 hours from Rome (Civitavecchia). I contacted Dario and he assured me it could be done and that he would handle all our logistics. We were not disappointed. He got us an amazing driver by the name of Massimo, who was awesome! He was at the port early so we could leave the minute we got off the ship and when we reached Rome, Dario was there to immediately start the tour. Dario had planned our whole day but still asked us if there was anything special we wanted to add or absolutely had to see that wasn’t on our tour. We could not have invented a better tour guide. When we were tired, he got a taxi to our next location without us even having to ask. He kept us all together and knew all the little short cuts to avoid crowds and allowed us to see even more of historic Rome. During our 26 day trip we took many tours but as we’ve all concluded, this one was by far the absolute best. If you’re going to Rome, engage Dario for a tour or two. You will be so glad you did.