About
We are a small company in Rome that arranges days and journeys for a few people at a time. Everything starts from one idea: the city is better before the crowds, and Italy is better by the road.
First light, more or less
Primo lume is Italian for first light, near enough. It is the hour we built the company around. Rome at six in the morning is another city: the bakers are open, the cobbles are still wet, and the piazzas belong to the people who live on them.
Our guides live here. They know which bar pours the early coffee, which gate opens first, and when it is wiser to sit down than to see one more church. Most days they will take eight or ten of you somewhere, and be finished in time for a long lunch.
Rome is the best place to start and a poor place to stop. The fast trains out of the city put much of Italy a day’s ride away at most, so we plan the routes onward too: Tivoli and Orvieto for a day, Florence, Naples and the coast for longer.
What we promise
Small enough to talk across
No group is larger than twelve, and most days it is eight to ten. Some trips are private: one group, your group.
We say what is certain
A price, an opening time or a rule on this site has been checked and carries the date we checked it. Our guides have the same habit: this is known, this is a good guess, this nobody knows.
The price covers the day
Every trip says what its price includes, and what it does not, on the page, not in small print.
Asking costs nothing
You tell us roughly when and who. We reply within one working day with dates and a firm price. Nothing is booked until you say yes.
How a trip comes together
Plan your trip- 01
Tell us
Four short questions: when, who, what you love, and how to reach you.
- 02
We reply
A person writes back with what is possible, the dates that work, and a firm price.
- 03
You decide
Say yes, ask for changes or walk away. A deposit only comes after you have said yes.
Who you will meet
Giulia Ferraro
Lead guide and co-founder
Trained as an archaeologist, and cannot walk past an old wall without reading it. Leads the Forum mornings and keeps our practical guide up to date.
Her practical guide to RomeMatteo Conti
Guide and cook
Leads the Testaccio market morning and the cacio e pepe lesson, and has strong views about which Roman pasta you should order first.
His four Roman pastas
About this site
Primo Lume is a sample company
This site shows what a small Roman tour company could look like online. The company, its tours, prices, guides and office are fictional. What is real is the information about Rome: facts such as opening hours and entry fees were checked against official sources and carry the date they were checked. The photographs are freely licensed and credited.