According to eTurbo news, "The European Commission has ordered Italy to allow tour guides from other countries to take groups around monuments and tourist sites. The Commission has issued a formal notice to the Italian government to end its practice of preventing tour guides from other member states and overseas from acting as guides for their groups at sites of interest."
I'm not sure where I stand on the issue--on one hand, Italy takes its historical sites very seriously and wants to ensure that only those truly knowledgeable can spout off about them. On the other hand, it does seem to be a restraint of trade.
Whatever. But if I was taking a group to Rome, I know I'd hire Roma7 and ask for Carlo Begliuti, who led me and some other journalists around on a fam there a while ago. He was amazing (click here for the writeup--it was fabulous).
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