Non Capisco! Galleria Borghese guided tour, purchased Italian not English

I would contact them first, explain the situation and ask if they'll switch tours. I wouldn't just leave the one you're scheduled for and try to tag onto another in English, if there's one occurring at the same time. Reading through the https://www.tosc.it/ "Help and Contact" page, it states that:

"Unfortunately, tickets we have booked and confirmed on your behalf are binding at the time of placing the order and cannot be returned. The organisers, on whose behalf we operate, do not accept changes, transfers or cancellation of tickets. We will warn you, very clearly, during the process of ordering your tickets that your order is binding."

So it doesn't look promising but if one doesn't ask, one doesn't get, right? You might get lucky:

"In the event you have not been able to find the answer to your questions in this section, we will be very pleased to answer any questions by email. Please send any questions you may have to the following e-mail address: [email protected]. "

You could also try [email protected]. or T +39 06 32810. Last resort, explain your situation at the museums, show your reservation and ask if the other tour can take you on. it's very possible the groups with be wearing "whisper" headphones - as are often mandatory in museum tours of certain group sizes these days - so you couldn't hear the English guide anyway.

Thanks @Kathy, I did try emailing them at the address.
Answer "Dear Customer,We regret to inform that according to Terms and Conditions you accepted at the moment of your purchase it is not possible to cancel or modify your order once this is confirmed. Therefore, we cannot satisfy your demand. Best regards"

At this point, on arrival - begging or subterfuge seem to be the two options.

"Subterfuge " isn't a great idea. First, see my comment about headphones? Secondly, shadowing the group - assuming you could even hear the guide - could make you appear as a mooch eavesdropping on the tour without paying for it. That doesn't make you any friends with a guide OR with the group.

Let's be kind and attribute the "your demand" language they used to their lack of fluency in English. I'm sure your request was polite.

I'm pretty sure the tours use the "whisper" technology, which means you won't hear the guide unless you stand right next to him/her -- so much for any "stealth" strategy!

You might try asking, at the site, if there has been a cancellation or a no-show on the English tour. If so, maybe you could step into it, perhaps getting credit for what you paid for the Italian (which would have a vacancy because of your switch), or perhaps paying a second time for the English.

Or maybe you could change your date/time for the visit to get the English tour?

Worst case -- Italian isn't a really difficult language, you could still get a lot out of the Italian tour without understanding everything. Bring a phrasebook, maybe find a sympathetic fellow-tourer who would translate a few words for you. For sure, it would be a kind of "back door" experience and maybe a good story to bring home.

You might try asking, at the site, if there has been a cancellation or
a no-show on the English tour. If so, maybe you could step into it,
perhaps getting credit for what you paid for the Italian (which would
have a vacancy because of your switch), or perhaps paying a second
time for the English.

Right, as I'd kindly suggested above. Really, I'd give it a shot!
Did a little more digging and yes, tour groups of 5 or more must use headsets.

"The Museum’s management has determined that guided groups accompanied either by our own staff guide or an external guide should not exceed 25 people for guide/teacher/accompanying adult.
Each group of at least 5 persons following the explanation of a guide (teacher/guide), must adopt special headsets for carrying out the visit. Any use of equipment not hired at the Museum must not interfere with the intern al equipment."

Editing to add? Another option - although it'll cost you an additional €5.00 - would be to rent an audioguide and see the museum on your own. I'm guessing you could enter the museum on your tour ticket but just not join up with the tour.

http://galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it/en/visita/visit-the-galleria-borghese

"A good story to bring back home" - ha maybe, but overall more of a cautionary tale for buying tickets from origin venue. It would have been more cost effective in this case to go with obvious, basic reseller websites (where they still have tickets, with big markup from original). Ultimately mea culpa. Thanks both of you for responses.

Seriously though, if this helps anyone else to look extra carefully when booking, it will not be a total waste.

My sympathies for having had a tough time with your tickets! The ticketing website does offer an English version so I'm a bit confused how you ended up with the Italian tour unless you didn't use that version?

https://www.tosc.it/tickets.htm?affiliate=T2C&sort_by=event_datum&sort_direction=asc&fun=erdetail&doc=erdetaila&erid=912678