You really get to see more than you would on your own but it can be hectic. The guides were all very

We have taken a 9 day Italy tour with Trafalgar and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't speak to either Globus or Gate 1. It was well organized and tickets were pre-purchased for all of the attractions so no waiting in lines.
frommers budget travel magazine You really get to see more than you would on your own but it can be hectic. The guides were all very knowledgeable and passionate about their areas of expertise and really added to the experience. The hotels were clean and fairly well located.
frommers budget travel magazine One of our few tours, we took a Globus tour out west in the US and that was incredibly interesting. Food good, tour guide was great and hotels were OK. If you do chose to use a tour visit this company that sells these tours at a discount and they are very reliable. The discount check comes with the travel papers, about a month before frommers budget travel magazine the tour starts. I like to check the actual company first and see the cost of the tour you select frommers budget travel magazine and then check the discount company for a price comparison. We did a Scandanavia Tour and used this company. Richard www.pavlustravel.com
It would help to know why you're thinking of taking a tour rather traveling independently frommers budget travel magazine (as many, many non-Italian speakers do successfully each year). Also your age and price range. Gate1 and Globus are really quite different.
My niece and I did a Globus tour of Tuscany a few years ago, and it was wonderful. frommers budget travel magazine We got to see a lot, the hotels were quite nice and located right in town except for Florence where it was a short taxi ride away, the food was perfectly frommers budget travel magazine acceptable, and the guide was excellent.
frommers budget travel magazine My understanding is that Gate 1 sells packages - not tours. That is, you pick the cities, the number of days and the hotel that you want and they arrange the air, airport transfers, hotels and a brief city tour. You are then free to do what you want - including buying more tours from them if you want. This lets you decide how long you want to stay where.
Globus offers traditional (and downscale) tours with moves almost every night, long days sitting on a bus, "views' (drive-bys) of many sights versus actual visits, hotels that may be at the end of hell and gone (it's uneven - each tour is different) and poor quality food (most hotels are really not where you want to eat in Italy).
If you really want the ease of a tour I would look at a better quality one - such as Tauck - which has more pleasant centrally-located hotels and decent food. Or go for Gate 1 - where you pick the hotel you want and can spend more time in each place.
I have taken several Globus tours, as well as several frommers budget travel magazine Cosmos tours; Cosmos is their budget arm. Globus is a so-called "First frommers budget travel magazine Class Tour" in the same tour category as Trafalgar and Insight(Trafalgar has budget tours too). Tauck is a more expensive tour and is considered "Deluxe" class.
Please take a look at how much time you are spending on the bus each day and how many nights you are spending frommers budget travel magazine in each city. If you are moving to a new city every night, it can get tiresome to pack and unpack. Also check the location of the hotels. Are they centrally located or out in the boonies?
How much is included? For example,on my Cosmos tour, almost nothing was included and the hotels were about a half-hour outside the city. This was back in pre-internet days (1990), so it was more difficult to check out the hotels.
Most posters on Fodors are independent travelers and disdain tours, even if they have never been on one. There are many, many threads on this debate, so I won't even go there. All I will say is that for some people tours can be a good way to travel as long as you pick the right one.