Please recommend a travel book for Italy
 

Can anyone recommend a good travel book for Italy? I'm going to Rome, Venice, and Tuscany (staying at a villa outside Florence) next August for 2 weeks.

I've been to Italy before, and used a "Let's Go" book because I was on an extremely low budget. I thought about buying the Rick Steve's book, but there are mixed reviews for it on Amazon.com. Any recommendations for this book, or any others??

I like Rick Steves :)

There are almost as many answers to this question as there are posters on the board.

If you put <guide book +Italy> into the Search Box, you will find umpteen threads on the topic, with umpteen suggestions.

Thanks Eloise... I don't post often on here, so I didn't think of that!

One personal suggestion though: Rather than a guide book to all of Italy, which does everything once over lightly, I would consider separate, more complete guide books for Rome, Venice and Tuscany. So you might try <guide book +area> as well.

I dislike Rick Steves! If you are only going to be in one area I find that the Cadogan Guides are very good and detailed, but easy to read and not in the follow-the-shepherd style of RS. I also like Dorking Kindersleys Eyewitness guide, lots of pictures and maps, and lets you pick and choose your own itinary.

I think you have to pick up and read a bit of a guide to see if it's for "you".

I usually choose an attraction that I'm particularly interested in, then check a few guide books to see how each handles that subject. That usually narrows it down to one or two.

~Liz

I second the DK Eyewitness guides.
((S))((*))

I picked up the DK Eyewitness book (at Costco), the Rick Steve's Italy 2006 book, the Fodors 2006 book, and a Michelin Tuscany/Umbria map. Can't have too much reference info when you are planning a several thousand dollar trip. Curiously, I didn't really care for the Fodor's book when I was browsing the bookstore. My main complaint was that it had so many pages that the paper was super thin and translucent, allowing the type on the opposite page to bleed through. As a former print designer, it was a turnoff and I skipped it on that merit though I'm sure it too had lots of good info.

I also ordered the Rick Steve's Italy DVD cheap off of Ebay (which I haven't received yet). I think Rick Steve's has a lot great info but I also think it's good to have other references to balance out his info (hence the DK and Frommers books). He actually recommends this himself in his book and on his website. His Europe Through the Back Door travel center is just a few miles north of where I live in Seattle, and a nice place to go for planning a Europe trip. There are tables there, and an exhaustive library of travel books from all publishers to use in planning your trip. They also sell rail passes, small luggage, etc.

If you are researching places to stay in each of those cities, I'd recommend looking into:
Sandra Gustafson's great sleeps (high-level street maps are included in this book)

For a great description of places to eat (including recommendations and prices) in each of those cities, look into:
Sandra Gustafson's great eats (high-level street maps are also included in this book)

My wife and I found the great eats book especially useful when we wanted to eat somewhere closeby to wherever we were located at that point in time in all three cities (with great food, but within our budget). The book was spot-on and recommendations were excellent!

Just putting in my two cents - I have used the Gustaphsen book Cheap Eats Paris over and over again in that city but was very disappointed with her suggestions for Italy. I felt I wasted my money to buy the Italy version. I like Rick Steves books - his practical suggestions are very helpful, like getting into town from the airport or negotiating heavily touristed sites. Also he is helpful with assessments as to where to spend your time. His accomodations and eating rec's can be hit or miss. I always have the problem of wanting to take too many books with me if I buy several guides. Lately I have tried "making my own" from copying pages from the books and printing things off this message board. Makes my suitcase alot lighter!

Hi eSynergy,

I like the Cadogan guides for detail, history and interesting things that aren't listed in all the other books.

Like either the Eyewitness or AAA Spiral guides for the photos, tips on walking tours and hours of operation for museums, churches, etc.

(Sampaquita and I must travel in the same bookstores :) ) Speaking of bookstores, I hope you visit one of the major chains, like Borders or Barnes and Noble. They will have a whole section of books, and you should be able to decide which ones appeal to you.

Have a fun trip!

I really like the DK Eyewitness Top 10 for individual cities. And one of my favorites to carry around is the Knopf Mapguides of individual cities because they give you section-by-section maps of neighborhoods. The maps are a good size and easy to read individual streets. It also highlights points of interest, historic sites, restaurants, shops, etc. for each section. It's small and fits easy in a purse. The maps are also easy to read under a street light at night. They have an excellent one for Rome.

I like Rick Steves primarily for the walking tours. I actually check his books out from the library, copy those page (oops) and make my own book to take with me. I do make sure to source Rick where appropriate of course.

I usually check out as many books as I can and make notes from them, then compile those notes into my own book. Each book will have something good in it.

For a real guide book, we like the Michelin Green guides far better than any others we've seen.

We like the Michelins because they are real guidebooks to the most important sights and towns. They do not focus on hotels and restaurants--something we don't need in a guidebook as we can get a lot more detailed and up-to-date info from the internet.

They also don't have masses of glossy photos of sights--something that's more appropriate in a coffee table book than a guidebook and that adds a lot of weight to the books. Why do I need to carry around color photos of the sights I'll be looking at for real?