Traveling to Italy and debating whether to do a guided tour.?

I am traveling to Italy this summer with 5 other friends. We are going for 8-10 days. We were thinking of doing a guided tour however we are not sure if it will take away from our experience since most tours run on tight schedules.Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions?

If you can't speak and read elementary Italian and/or you have limited funds you might want to consider going on a guided tour the first time.

I don't speak Italian and was able to get around Rome and the other major tourist attractions but getting out in the country were the bargains are is much harder.

The major train stations have multilingual toursit information booths that can help you get to the main tourist locations but then taking a guided tour does the same thing but you don't have to hassle with it.

pleassse dont do a guided trip! your gonna be w. 5 other friends, you'll be fine! try to have an idea of what you want to visit ahead of time & what you wanna get out of the trip. practice your italian &have an open mind! my friend & i did it alone last summer, it was amazing! it was a lot more exciting that way, but it took a lot of planning before hand. if your under the age of 26, i would recommend buying the STA travel euro train tickets to save money. what ever you do just have funnn!!

Don't do a guided tour!!
It's far better to do your own itinerary...
There are so many things to do and to see along the way...
May be places and landscapes you can't read on a guide...but that worth a stop...

to Italy where?

I just got back from a trip to Italy last year - I had both experiences - the organised tour and the free spirit traveller option!
I did not enjoy the tour at all - like you hinted at there is no time to spare as you are on such a tight schedule - I found when I was on my own (with my friend) we had more time to do what we wanted and see what we wanted.
I also found that the majority of Italians speak English - as long as you make an attempt at their language - I would order in Italian and they would reply to me in English!! It was hilarious!
You are only there for 10 days - soak it up - do your research and have fun - it is a magical place - I also recommend B and B style accommodation over hotels - so much more friendly and gives you an idea of their great lifestyle!

like most everyone else has said, say not to the guided tour. you will get more out of your trip if you do it yourself. just do your research ahead of time, have some places in mind to see, a general itinerary of what your group wants to do and just leave it open for changes. basically have where you are spending the night and transportation figured out. from there just play it by ear. one suggestion, look into what days major attractions are closed. use guide books and online itineraries to build your trip. we enjoyed staying in a villa central to everything we were seeing and traveling by rental car from there. it freed us up to do what we wanted and explore the countryside, not just the cities. and honestly, we really didnt have that much trouble outside of the cities. we do not speak any italian but managed to get where we wanted to and do the things we wanted with little or no problem. invest in a good map!!