I've managed to find some great restaurant reviews here and around the web, but I would love to have something that would be a little easier to use than computer printouts. I'll be in Rome, Florence, Parma, and Milan. I see that Zagat does publish a Europe review. Is that any good?

I only know the Zagat guides for Paris and London and my home town of NYC. If Florence and Rome are included in another guide, I will buy one because I like them. However, for Rome at least you might like the Gambero Rosso restaurant book--it's well-respected.<BR>Also, I have for some cities (not the ones you mention) small books in the "Time for Food----) series by Thomas Cook. Lots of pithy comments, even suggestions for picnics and food shops, plus a little shopping info.<BR>I've read the one for Venice, and based on that one I'd recommend the "Time for Food" books for Florence and Rome. Pocket-sized.

Thanks. I love Zagats--NYer too--so I guess I'll check out the Europe version and those Time for Food guides too. I'm getting hungry just thinking about the trip!

There are three excellent food guides to Italy. Written by Fred Platkin, Carla Copalbo and Faith Willinger. Frogot the names of the books, but you should be able to fing them on Amazon. Buon appetito.

I haven't seen it so I can't say for sure but I'd guess any Zagat Europe review would be like their US review--only the top 10 or 20 places per major city. i used to get Gault-Millau guides for Italy and various places but I haven't seen any of them lately. You might check that out on Amazon.com.

I should have mentioned that Sandra Gustafson who did the Cheap Eats guides, now good or great eats, did one on Venice, Rome and Florence. That's pretty good. And, of course, the Michelin Guide is the gold standard. You really can't go wrong with that.

Hi, I have been living in Rome for nearly 2 months now and was wondering if some of these guides, reviews, can be found on the internet as well? i don't think i can order books from amazon, here in Roma. Thanks!

Isabella, you sure can order books from Amazon.com, both U.S. and UK. I, unfortunately, do it all the time, too many times. They give you different shipping options, and if you can wait, then the surface option is surprisingly cheap.<BR><BR>Gambero Rosso is about as close as you are going to come to a guide, and it is pretty thorough. My all-time favorite is Fred Plotkin's Food Lovers' Guide to Italy. Excellent. However, it may be a little out-of-date; I believe it was published in the mid-90s.

After reading posts on this board I bought the Cheap Eats book for a recent trip to Italy. I would not bother getting that book if you have a few guide books. In addition to the Cheap Eats I had the Cadogan Guide to Rome and a Fodors. Almost every restaurant mentioned in the cheap eats was also in one of the two guidebooks. Same was true for Florence. I regretted having carried another book to Italy. A great book for Rome which also contains restaurant info is City Secrets. It is written by residents at the American Academy in Rome. It is a great supplement to a more basic guidebook and includes little blurbs on things like the best place to have a drink, a great stationary shop, etc. All sort of extraneous but very interesting. Two other good things about that book are (1) it is small and fits in your pocket and (2) it recommends some of the more authentic restaurants, cafes, etc.

The best that we have found for Rome is<BR>'Gambero Rosso Rome" in English<BR> Honest straightforward reviews of Restuarants, Trattorias, Pizzerias. Wine Bars, Wine Shps, etc. done by native Roman editors of their magazine.<BR>There is also lots of restuarant info in back issues of their magazine. <BR>They also print an Italian Restuarant Guide for all of Italy, but unfortunately only in Italian<BR>Check their website at www.gamberorosso.it