Rome: Follow the man in the white hat

The pigeon was never intended as part of the deal. White Hat Tours claims to offer a unique way of experiencing Italian culture, but the bird that relieved itself on to poor Mr Bemrose was wholly unscheduled.

And the morning had been going so well until then. The group had set off to see Puccini's take on Rome through a "Tosca Trail" devised by the director of White Hat, James Gilpin. Outside Palazzo Braschi they had been shown Pasquino, one of Rome's "talking" statues, covered in printed denunciations of the city's rulers, just as it would have been in 1800 when Tosca was set. Inside Sant'Andrea delle Valle they had sat and listened to extracts from Act I of the opera on MP3 players provided by James. And at Campo dei Fiori, they had seen the statue, erected at the end of the 19th century to the memory of Leonardo Bruni, one of the many martyrs to papal authority.

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"Throughout the period that Puccini was writing Tosca there was tension between the Roman people and the authorities," James explained. The context was set for a walk through to the Palazzo Farnese where Puccini set the next act of his opera about the doomed lovers, Mario Cavadarossi and Floria Tosca.

After giving a brief synopsis of the grisly second act in which Cavadarossi is tortured within the palazzo, James explained that it was not possible to look inside what is now the embassy of France. "The embassy organises occasional tours in either French or Italian but these do not include rooms on the second floor where Puccini set Act II, so I suggest that we sit down on the benches in front of the palace and listen there."

The scene was idyllic with the spring sun creeping out from behind Botticelli clouds. The great façade of Palazzo Farnese, topped off by Michelangelo's marble cornice, loomed overhead. It was during "Visi d'Arte", Tosca's serene and show-stopping aria about devoting her life to love and art, that the pigeon decided to relieve itself.

Fortunately, it was soon laughed off. Mr Bemrose, sticky but unbowed, was all for heading on to Castel Sant'Angelo, the setting for the last act of Tosca - and scene of that famous plunge from the parapets - where they'd switch on their MP3 players for the last time.

White Hat Tours is a new venture in a busy market. Many companies offer Ancient Rome and Renaissance Rome, but White Hat is different in providing a personal and eclectic introduction to the city. Gilpin, a former investment banker, lived in the city for a year before setting up the company. He knows the language, the sights and short cuts. He's even timed how long it takes between lavatories inside the Vatican Museum, a valuable tool when your clientele is usually 60-plus. White Hat, named after the Havana hat that James wears when guiding, was set up last year to give a "holistic" approach to the Eternal City.

For this reason, visitors get private tours of the villas, tombs and excavations. They get well off the tourist trail to attend a packed concert of Verdi at the Sala Santa Cecilia where middle-class Romans in fur bellow "Bravo!" at the end of every march. They also get to eat at the homes of those same Romans as part of the national mangiare di casa scheme. They even attend an Italian cookery masterclass and learn the basics of the language with James in their hotel every evening.

Most of all, the group learns quickly to depend on James. The queues at the Vatican Museum stretch all the way round the papal city. But James has done a deal. After 10 minutes the group is whisked inside and is ascending the papal escalator while those poor people at the back of the queue won't be catching a whiff of Michelangelo or the Borgias until well after lunch.

"Rome is too important to miss things," says Mr Bemrose. "And we are fortunate to be here with someone who loves this city!"

It's true, Rome can be a nightmare your first time around. Public transport isn't integrated; the Metro is highly selective; the taxi drivers are rude and at fast food outlets you queue to pay in one place then queue to present your receipt in another, a process that slows the fast food down to gourmet speed. But James's group cuts a swathe through the apparent chaos and it is grateful.

"We are about to enter the Sistine Chapel," says James. "This is the agony and the ecstasy - depending on how big the crowds are. There are lavatories here. I suggest we use them!"

"I would not want to have done this without him," admits one of the ladies in the party. Ladies, travelling in pairs, are the core of all cultural travel groups. In the early 20th-century, they would have come to Rome clutching their Baedekers; now they have James.

"I think we are going to know Rome better than any other city we've visited," says Mr Bemrose. And on this occasion, if no other, his wife agrees.

THE COMPACT GUIDE

HOW TO GET THERE

Adrian Mourby travelled as a guest of British Airways (0870 850 8950; ba.com), White Hat Tours (020-7771 2681; whitehattours.com) and the Hotel Majestic (00 39 06 412 441; hotelmajestic.com). British Airways flies to Rome from £80. White Hat Tours offers seven days' b&b from £1,340 per person, based on two, including guided tours and entrance fees. The Hotel Majestic offers doubles from €418 (£284) per night.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Italian State Tourist Office (020-7408 1254; enit.it).

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