Licensed Tour Guides needed in Italy??

Technically, a teacher leading his or her own students does not need a license.

Bring proof that you are a teacher from a U.S. school and that the students with you are from the school. If stopped, show it to the police, tell them you are their teacher, and are only there to teach your students and are not working as paid tour guides.

cheryl,

As Frank mentioned, you'll probably be able to avoid any "legal problems" due to the fact that you're simply teaching your students, and not operating as a paid tour guide.

As I recall there was an "incident" depicted on Rick's tour DVD, where one of his Guides (Reid?) was denied entry to a Museum in Italy, as he'd forgotten to bring his license that day.

Just to be on "the safe side", you might want to send an E-mail to Rick's staff, just to confirm this situation.

Good luck and happy travels!

Actually, Ken, the tour guide had his credentials checked outside the Colosseum in Rome, and couldn't get into the Vatican because he was wearing shorts. (They were the convertible type pants with zip off legs and he forgot the legs.)

I happen to watch the video a couple of weeks ago.

Frank,

Thanks for the clarification. It's been awhile since I watched the video, so thought the lack of tour guide credentials was the problem.

Of course that's also a good reminder for anyone travelling in Italy, to comply with the dress codes especially in Churches and similar sites.

Cheers!

Which, of course, gets us back to the shorts/no shorts question..:)

Remind your students, Cheryl, that while visiting Italy they won't get into any of the churches wearing shorts or bare shoulders.

On my RS tour of Italy, our guide was particularly cautious in Assisi because they have some kind of ordinance (?) that requires the use of only authorized Italian guides. She instead did a lot of nodding toward key scenery and did her talking in a low voice. It was actually quite comical since it was pretty obvious we were tourists.

You perhaps might contact the Italian consulate in the US about this? Also, try Google - I got a bunch of articles by searching "Italy licensed tour guide", several citing the same as prior posters (school groups ok).

Thanks so much for all of the good advice! I am glad to be finding this out now, rather than when I am trooping around Venice with students.

There is a law suit going on in Sienna right now between an American grad student studying art there and the Sienna Guide's Association. The student says he was acting as a teacher showing the art and history of Sienna, the Guide's assocation says he's acting as a tour guide. The student was fined and is fighting it. It's been going on for years and the student is now back in the U.S.

The EU actually ruled that Italy could not force non-Italian tour guides escorting tours through the country to get licenses. Italy ignored the ruling and is still fining guides.