any bus tours to other nearby towns from Rome?

See previous post.

You'll be better off taking the bus and seeing these cities on your own. Bus trips usually take the whole day with very little time spent at the actual sites. They tend to cost a lot of money for what they give you. You can check out the train schedules on the trenitalia website but they haven't posted yet for July. You can use a date in April to see the fares and frequency of trains. You can arrange to have a guide meet you in the city you are visiting or purchase entry tickets or a tour to the sites you wish to see in those cities. You don't say how long you'll be in Italy but if it's less than 10 days I would suggest limiting your day trips to two at the most. Donna