About me
Olga Golubeva — Private Tour Guide in Rome, licensed since 1999
I am a licensed tour guide based in Rome, and I have been leading private tours here since 1999. I work only in private: one guest, one couple, one family or one small circle of friends at a time, never a shared group. Every day I lead is designed for the people in front of me, in English or in Russian, and I lead it myself.
What a private tour guide in Rome actually changes
Rome can be visited in a crowd, on a schedule written for a hundred people. Or it can be visited the way it was built to be seen: at your own pace, in the right light, with someone who knows which door to open and when. A private tour guide is not simply a smaller group. It means the itinerary is yours, the timing is yours, and the conversation is yours — whether you want to spend an hour in front of a single Caravaggio or walk from the Forum to Trastevere without ever looking at a watch.
Because I am licensed, I can guide inside the sites themselves — the Colosseum and the Forum, the Vatican Museums and St Peter’s, the Borghese Gallery — and not only in front of them. Because I work privately, I can organise what a group cannot: an after-hours visit of the Vatican, a reserved slot at the Borghese Gallery, a private flight over Rome, or a quiet morning in a palace that is still lived in.
How a day with me is built
It starts with a conversation. Before you arrive, we talk — by email, WhatsApp or a short call — about who is travelling, what you have already seen, what you love, and what you would rather avoid. I then propose a day, or several, and we refine it together. On the day itself, we meet wherever suits you and the city unfolds from there. Nothing is read from a script: the itinerary is a starting point, and it bends to your curiosity.
You can begin from one of my private tours in Rome — Ancient Rome, the Vatican, Christian Rome, Underground Rome, the gastronomic Rome of markets and trattorias — or simply build your own day and let me shape it.
Beyond Rome
My heart belongs to Rome, but many of my guests come back for the days outside the city: Tivoli and the two villas of the emperor and the cardinal, the lakes and vineyards of the Roman Castles, or a long day on the Amalfi Coast with a private driver. These are private days as well — same guide, same car, same unhurried rhythm.
In English and in Russian
I guide in English and in Russian, and I am happy to move between the two within the same family or group. Guests from Europe, North America and the Russian-speaking world have been travelling with me for more than two decades. If you were sent here by someone I have already guided, you are in the right place.
More than tours
Alongside private guiding, I offer a small number of services that make a stay in Rome easier and richer: private masterclasses in pizza-making, mosaic and fresco; chauffeured transfers in Rome and across Italy; personal shopping in the city’s finest boutiques; and Italian–Russian interpreting for business or personal needs.
Frequently asked
Are your tours really private?
Yes, always. I do not run shared or scheduled group tours. Each booking is for your party only, and I lead it personally.
Are you a licensed guide?
Yes. I hold the official tour guide licence for Rome and have been guiding professionally since 1999, which allows me to guide inside museums, archaeological sites and basilicas.
How far in advance should I contact you?
As early as you can, especially for spring and autumn, and for anything that requires a reserved entry such as the Borghese Gallery or an after-hours Vatican visit. Write to me with your dates and I will tell you honestly what is possible.
How do we start?
Write to me with your dates, who is travelling and what you have in mind — or start from Build Your Day. I reply personally, and we take it from there.
