Gratuities for your tour guide are not included in the tour price and just like anywhere else in the world, except Japan, are graciously accepted but not mandatory! Let each one do as he has resolved in his own heart.. Nobody will judge you on whether you leave it or not! (2 Cor 9:7)

Taxes and government regulations are different in each country.

In Italy we must pay 40% (or more) tax on all our earnings: whether from in-person or virtual tours!

Moreover we have to pay for someone who takes care of our social media contents and for someone who works on the hundreds or email/whattsapp messagges from 1 up to 4 hours a day/365 days!

In Italy, France or Greece it is illegal to work as tour guide without holding a valid government license, which in most cases requires a university degree. In countries with a rich archaeological history, being a licensed tour guide requires endless training, costant upgrading, and a regular payment of specific taxes!

In Italy, it is illegal to guide a group on the street or inside an historical site without a license and/or by contribution only (no fixed price). If city police or a tourism inspector stops an illegal Tour Guide, a heavy fine will be imposed by law.

This is why the only 2 brothers/sisters that lead our tours are licensed tour guides! This is their employment and not a hobby.

We are unable to give all pioneers a discount. Only for the virtual we decided to make an exception for those who took a ‘ vow of poverty’ and who live on the small allowance received from the organization. However, regular pioneers and commuters like us, do work and earn money and pay taxes. As fellow pioneers who need to support our own families, we deeply appreciate all their efforts and dedication!

Also for the in-person tours, for those who are in special full time service – according with the group size – we always try to do our best, sometimes giving to them a discount.

Our sincere wish is that all brothers and sisters from abroad can join us on our tours even though we understand that in some situations, given the exchange rate, the tour price can be significant.

(However in case of any dire economic discomfort, please let us know at the time of booking and we will evaluate each request regardless of your privileges in the congregation)

In general, anyone who decides to take a vacation abroad can let themselves be guided by the principle found in Luke 14:28

Not at all! We were all Licensed Tour Guides long before we started doing Bible Tours for our brothers and sisters. We did not improvise ourselves as Tour Guides, for example after having received training due to an international convention. In Italy it would not be possible. We are all registered in the National Register of the Tourism as professional workers, and we pay all taxes from this full time job.

We are not exclusive guides for Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Italy this would be considered a discriminatory.

However on this website and on our social pages linked here, you will find only those tours that we have prepared specifically for our brothers and sisters. Moreover we decided to divide our working week evenly between our JW bible tours and our non-witness group tours. We find this balance and variety refreshing as it balances out the often strong demands of Bible tours with the more relaxed non-bible tours which can also be more rewarding!

This is the reason why we are unable to accomodate up to 50% of JW Bibletours booking requests from our brothers and sisters.

Not at all! We are sorrry to disappoint you but from the moment you set foot in Italy, and particularly in Rome, you are already funding the Vatican. An important part of the businesses, hotels and B&Bs in the country belong to them!

In addition, the proceeds of the Museum tickets are largely used for the maintenance, restoration and caretaking of the precious works of art housed in the Vatican Museums.

Furthermore, we’re not forcing anyone to purchase anything. It is one of the 3 tours we offer, and everyone, based on their own conscienses, can decide wheter to ask for this tour or not.

It would be like accusing the faithful slave of encouraging us to visit St.Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican just for having written the article G 75 1/8 pg. 21 “An interesting tour in the Vatican”.

And is just one of many articles dedicated to this place!

It is evident that the decision to visit a church for tourist purposes, rather than a museum run by the church..or even just attending – without participating – to a funeral and/or wedding inside a church is a personal decision and no one should impose their own choices on others (Gl 6:5, Rm 14:3,10).

This has been perfectly explained in many recent articles and broadcastings.

May everyone act according to their own personal conscience without judging those who feel differently!

Not at all! First of all, we consulted with brothers at Bethel before choosing our name!

Second, we remind you that only the term “JW.ORG” and its logo of the watchtower with the blue background are protected by copyright laws, and not the letters of the alphabet j, w!

No one can copyright letters of the alphabet. There is even a hotel chain that uses the same 2 letters and does not constitute a copyright infringement – jw-marriott.marriott.com 

However when jw.org souvenirs and gadgets with background photos/videos of Caleb and Sofia and the logo “jw.org” are handed out at assemblies.. and/or any other material from the website is shared on social media (even images/videos of publications that have been included in several virtual tours during the pandemic “for a fair use”) these all constitute copyright infringements! 

If that would be the case, then also the images found in the society’s site where the Russian and Ukrainian patriarchs speak, with the corresponding flag below to indicate the language used, would have to be classified as nationalism

(Phil 4:5, Ecc 7:16)

Because the group sizes for Italian-language tours are always larger than those for English-language tours.

In addition, organizing a tour during the low season requires significantly less effort than organizing the same tour during the high season.

Furthermore, English-language tours, due to their higher volume, require me to handle approximately 10–30 messages and emails per day, 365 days a year without interruption—work that I almost never have with Italian-language tours.

Because I feel that discussing my own privileges or my “position” in the congregation would be not modest!

Unfortunately, we are continually bombarded by an increasingly self-absorbed and self-congratulatory culture. Personally, I work hard not to fall into the trap of theocratic narcissism.

It’s not important how many generations back we can trace our spiritual lineage or which activities we fulfill for the organization. Like a sister said in a brooadcast “we do not identify ourselves based on our privileges” and we don’t like that others identify us based on these either.

I’m simply proud to be slaves in the service of Jehovah, just like all of you reading this.

Privileges may come and go but our strong relationship with Jehovah remains!

I am the only one with an official tour guide license, a government permit, and a registered VAT number, authorized to conduct Bible-based tours for Jehovah’s Witnesses inside the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums..

For a classic tour not based on the Bible, you can check TripAdvisor. More or less, they all follow the same itinerary in the Vatican and Colosseum — the price varies depending on the group size: the smaller the group, the higher the cost.

Check the availability of my “In the Footsteps of Paul”.

This tour is available 6 days a week..all year long

In Footsteps of Paul

Once the checkout page opens, scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter all the required details.

Then, click on “Payment Method” and finally on “Complete My Order.”

In general, until you see the charge on your card and receive the automatic confirmation email with the tour details, your booking has not been successfully completed. 

It may not have been finalized or may not have gone through. 

In that case please try again, using a different device and a different card.

link for booking

In-Person Tours

When you pay in cash upon arrival or only give small deposits via PayPal, the income is not traceable.

Moreover, you are never insured in case of injury during the tour. The lack of a VAT number to legally sell these tours and the absence of accident insurance are the real reasons behind the rock-bottom prices.

This is why the other three online platforms that offer biblical walks or tours for JWs in Rome cannot provide guided visits inside the Colosseum or the Vatican Museums, where a licensed tour guide is required in order to legally practice the profession and sell guided tours.

They will always offer outdoor walks or tours instead, usually requesting a small advance payment via PayPal and the balance in cash upon arrival, or operating on a donation-based system

I stopped doing this after several negative experiences!

I have never claimed to hold copyright over the biblical history of Rome, and I am genuinely pleased when others create new virtual or in-person tours based on Rome’s rich biblical history.

However, I find it deeply dishonest to do so by simply summarizing information taken from other tours—information that is the result of years of study, work, and careful verification, which I continue to carry out to this day.

I find it equally inappropriate to organize tours for commercial purposes (donation based even) using material prepared by the organization for excursions offered during international conventions. That is not the purpose for which such training is provided.

Ethically and professionally, it is a matter of integrity that each person draw exclusively from their own research and efforts.

For this reason, I do not allow recordings during visits. I am proud to say that my tours are the result of my own independent work, carried out exclusively from 2013 to the present.

Anyone who wishes can independently conduct research on wol.jw.org by simply entering the names of the key sites visited, and they will already find a wealth of material available for further study.