José F. Grave de Peralta
Favorite Tours
I am experienced and LICENSED tour guide for the entire Rome and Lazio region in Italy. In this capacity, I offer a wide variety of standard or customized guided tours of many sites in and around Rome. As my curriculum vitae (CV) shows, my tour paths have included various city museums of the United States, such as Miami's Villa Vizcaya, New York's MET, and the great Philadelphia Museum of Art on Beacon Hill.
My focus is always on the very personal perspective, and the narratives of my walks --both for groups of no more than 6 or 7 individuals or school class teams of up to 15-20 students -- are always accompanied by MY custom-drawn TIMELINES and other visual materials that enhance the tour experience and which I hand out at the beginning of the excursions. Below is a list of my repertoire of walks:
Discover with an artist and historian
the rich layers of Rome
Walks (2-4 hours duration)
1) ROME: The Ancient FORUM, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum
2) Julius CAESAR and Emperor Caesar Augustus
3) The Foro Boario and Temples of Hercules, Portunus, and Mouth of Truth
4) Campidoglio (Capitol Hill) and the Capitoline Museums.
5) The Pantheon
6) Early Christian Basilicas
7) Vatican Museums including the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica
8) Caravaggio
9) Trastevere: Piazzas and Medieval Churches
10) Aventine Hill Highlights
11) The Catacombs and Basilica of St. Agnese
12) The Popes and the Renaissance
13) Bernini vs. Borromini: Two Artists of the Baroque Period
14) The Meridian solar "Clock" inside Santa Maria degli Angeli
15) Galleria Borghese
16) Medieval Churches and their Underground Rome Sites
17) The Villa Farnesina of Renaissance Banker Agostino Chigi, with frescoes by Raphael
18) Underground Rome; the Roman Houses in Celio Hill, San Clemente and its Temple of Mithra
Walks (4-6 hours)/ Day Tours (*)
18) TIVOLI and Villa D'Este
19) Pompeii and Naples
20) Painted Etruscan tombs in Tarquinia (*)
21) Frescoes of Piero della Francesca including Perugia, Arezzo, Urbino, and Rimini (2-3 day trip)
22) Paestum and its Greek temples (6th Century B.C.) (overnight)
23) Sketching in Rome (indoor or outdoor)
24) Tosca Tour
25) Roman Aqueducts
Read HERE what
has to say about one of my TOURS
Curriculum Vitae
CLICK Below
Interview of José from the PBS series "The Curious Traveler"
A moment of rest during a tour of the Vatican Museums with a group of architecture students from the University of Miami
