Italy Guide Books

[Buster1330]

Hi,

Which are your favourite guide books for Italy? I'm looking to download a good guide on my Kindle.

Thanks!

[paul929207]

I go to my library & check out what they have. If I really like one, then I buy it,

[jac1976]

I really like Rick Steve's guide books. They are my go to books when traveling. They don't have all of the pretty photographs that other guide books have, but they do have a lot of useful information. They also saved us a lot of money with ticket buying tips and because we often read all of the info from the book while walking around instead of getting a guide.

[photographia]

In my experience, the best ones are the Blue Guides. They're a British series of guidebooks that tend to be kind of brainiac--they tell you all the architectural, art, and historical aspects of a place, but they couldn't care less about restaurants or shopping. They have a Northern Italy one which is fantastic, we used it for Venice and Padua and it was at least as good as hiring a guide, if not better! :)

[riffatsea]

I browse through lots of guide books at the bookstore and take out some from the library.The only ones I have taken with me on trips are the small Eyewitness Top 10 Guides for each city or area I visit. Recently I have also used the Time Out Guides. I think both are also available on line, not sure if they can be downloaded on your Kindle but you can for sure visit the sites on your computer.

[TLCOhio]

Hi, Which are your favourite guide books for Italy? I'm looking to download a good guide on my Kindle. Thanks!

 

Agree strongly with a couple of the posters on the suggestion for checking your local library. I don't know about your public libraries in the Toronto area. I would see what they have and/or ask for them to do a book transfer they can process for you.

 

Such super excellent visual books such as Eyewitness, Insight, etc. have a special advantage. What you can see can, sometimes, be more helpful to deciding what you like or not. Rick Steves, Fodors, Frommers, etc., can work well, too. In my opinion, no one travel book has it "ALL", perfectly and completely for all of your needs. These resources, especially the visual ones, can you help better figure out your priorities, in advance, for what you want to do and see. That early research is very important. Don't wait until you get on the ship to "GUESS" what might be of interest.

 

I always build a "file" on my laptop computer for each port stop with highlights from that reading and then pulling up stories/articles from the travels sections of the New York Times, Telegraph of London, Wikipedia, etc. All of those help to consider your many great options. Amazon can be very good in providing such books at reduced prices, plus some used books websites. Lots of great options!!! Especially in these days of the Internet, it makes things easier to research and plan ahead. You can use Google.com for great access to various text items, plus a wide variety of visuals and maps. One option for some private tour and other local options is to contract the tourism office in each of your ports. You can use Google.com and put in the search term such as "city/port name tourism office". Then follow-up to each of those office by e-mail, ask your questions, get their suggestions, options to consider, etc.

 

Since you are asking about Italy, you might check my live/blog postings noted below. I have also shown below a few of my picture highlights on what we saw in Italy in June. If you love history, architecture, culture, food, wine, etc., there is so much to consider and do in Italy. BUT, because your options are so many, you need to consider your options in advance. Good prep and research, as you are doing, is important!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. These postings are now at 25,730 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

It was a big “WOW” for our first visit to Pisa. This tower is much taller than I expected. They just completed a major cleaning of it in the past few weeks, making things perfect, except for that little foundation problem with one tower. Also impressive here are the Pisa Baptistry and Duomo (main) church. Pisa has a couple of major universities here. There is another church here that also also a learning (and shorter) tower. We drove by that site. Two leaning towers in Pisa! How many knew that?:

 

 

 

We had visited San Gimignano in 1999 with our son, but it is a town that is always impressive in history and architectural styles. We had lunch here. Below is a long-shot of the hill town with its tower from the wonderful countryside below and nearby.

 

 

 

The Pantheon was built between 118-125 AD in Rome and is so large and amazing in its size, construction and classic style. We had seen it before, but it is always amazing and impressive as you round the corner and “there it is!”.:

 

 

 

Overlooking Positano along the Amalfi Coast, this is the view as we dined, family-style for lunch, at the Elisir di Positano per La Caglioita. The views here were super and the sun came out in strong force as we enjoyed our three-course lunch with local wine and drinks.:

 

 

 

As we sailed into Venice, here is a tighter shot of the main square and the crowds that were there around 1 pm on June 14. Love Venice so, so much!!:

 

 

 

It was a full moon for our evening in Venice. Here is that view of the moon as we walked at night past the Doge’s Palace. At night, you want to hang out in and around San Marco Square to hear the various orchestras playing, see people enjoying, etc.:

 

[ab0si]

I agree with both the recommendations for the Blue Guides and Rick Steve.

 

 

The Blue Guides tend to be the best for details an completeness. However, if your Italian trip is solely or mostly via cruise ship, you are not going to be anyplace long enough for details and completeness to matter. If you are spending several weeks in Italy pre or post cruise, I would strongly suggest this series. The are NOT, however, available for the Kindle.

 

Rick Steve's books ARE available for the Kindle. They cover the basics and tend to have easy to follow directions.

[cruisemom42]

As Terry says, there's not one guidebook that has it all. The great thing about having a Kindle is that you can load several guidebooks into it and still be able to carry it around handily. The not-so-great thing is the lack of color, which means the guidebooks (like DK) that rely heavily on color photos don't work as well.

 

I am a word person rather than a picture person, so Kindle works well for me. Rick Steves books are great if you are the type of person to do things on your own. He gives lots of self-guided walks -- including ones that take you through museums as well as outdoor walks. I find him short on history and detail though.

 

One other great option you have with Kindle is to make your own travel document by importing information from the internet, making notes from books you read, etc. When you're done, you can upload it onto your Kindle. I usually create one of these documents for each trip or city I'm visiting.

 

I agree with others that it's a good idea to browse guidebooks before buying. Some will appeal to you and others won't.

[breeze123]

I'm another supporter of Rick Steves. I've used his guides quite a bit on my travels and always find them helpful. He tells you how to avoid lines and ripoffs. Definitely a worthwhile guide.

[bobalink]

Hi,

Which are your favourite guide books for Italy? I'm looking to download a good guide on my Kindle.

Thanks!

 

The other posters have given you great advice. I would only like to add that you can also download Rick Steves Audio Guides.

 

We recently returned from Florence and Venice. In addition to reading his books, we downloaded the walking tours on my iPod (used a splitter for our ear buds). The guides for Accademia, Uffizi and the Renaissance Walk were very good. St. Mark's and the Grand Canal were also very good.

 

My daughter used the walking tours in Rome for most of the major sites.

 

Here is the link to Rick Steves' Europe Audio Guides:

http://www.ricksteves.com/ae/ae_menu.htm

 

Enjoy your visit to Italy!

[Ireallyneedavacation]

I will admit that I am a guide book fanatic! I am too researching Italy for our trip next year. If I added up the cost of all of the books I have bought, I would probably pass out...I have Eyewitness Travel Rome. It is good in that it gives you streetmaps of areas and locates for you all of the intersting sites you will find. It then gives you greater detail of each site. I have Rick Steve's Italy 2011, Rick Steve's Rome 2011 and Rick Steve's Florence and Tuscany 2011. Rick Steve's is great! As some of the others have said, he does give you great tips. Plus, you can watch his weekly Rick Steve's Europe on PBS or you can rent them on DVD. I also have Frommer's Amalfi Coast, Frommer's Italy and Frommer's Rome. I like comparing Rick Steve's and Frommer's. Out of all of these, I would recommend Rick Steve's Italy 2011. He does give you good detail of several cities in Italy in this one book. Oh, you can also go to his website and get any updates that have occurred since the book(s) was published.

[Calif.Girl]

I used Rick Steve's Pocket Rome book when I was in Rome in June. I carried it everywhere with me and it was fairly small and light. Some days I even just ripped out the pages I would need for that day. It's a great little guide book!

[Liz]

Rick Steves also has "Snapshot" books for specific cities - compact enough to fit in a purse or day pack, and they include the walking tours and notes that he compiles in the larger "country" books.

 

Liz

[Cruisin'Liza]

I just got back from Venice with Rick Steves Venice on my Kindle - worked out fantastic for us! I also downloaded his audio tours for Venice and Athens - both worked like a charm.

 

I also normally compare Rick with Frommer's when doing a land tour -- but for quick cruise stops, I generally just stick with Rick Steves since there is only enough time to hit the highlights anyway. We spent 4.5 days in Venice and found the Rick Steves book to be more than adequate.

[Karennella]

This year I am photocopying bits and pieces from a variety of guides and will discard the sheets after being used. I do not want to get a kindle as we already take a laptop, camera, phones, rechargers and that is enough. I relied on the laptop last year and I decided I would prefer old-fashioned paper. I found the tourist places not particularly helpful even though we speak Italian.

[slidergirl]

I usually stock up on Frommer's, Fodor, and Lonely Planet guides when I'm planning. I'm not a Rick Steves fan. I always thought his guides were too "toooristy". I did take a trip with some friends last year who were "Steveaholics". They lived by his books. At the Hotel Continental in Barcelona, there were numerous copies of Steves' Spain and Barcelona books sitting on shelves in the dining area. At one restaurant we ate at in Italy, I almost choked on my food at one point - I was looking around the restaurant and saw a bunch of the people dining there looking at a Steves book!!! My friend's husband wouldn't park anywhere unless it was a spot that Steves recommended, honestly! I could see using his books for finding moderate accommodations, but the rest of his stuff tended to leave us herded with other Stevaholics everywhere we went. I think it the fascination with Steves tends to over-tourist places.

[TLCOhio]

This year I am photocopying bits and pieces from a variety of guides and will discard the sheets after being used. I do not want to get a kindle as we already take a laptop, camera, phones, rechargers and that is enough. I relied on the laptop last year and I decided I would prefer old-fashioned paper. I found the tourist places not particularly helpful even though we speak Italian.

 

Excellent idea on photocopying from the various guides. For our cruise in June, I did that little "trick". Travel books get heavy and the airlines make thing tough on the weight rules and extra charges. For Europe, it is especially challenging as there are some different ports and great options.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Just back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. These postings are now at 26,102 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[cruisemom42]

I'm not necessarily a "Steves-head", but I haven't found any other guidebook that gives quite such detailed information on using local transportation, specific walking tours, and all the other myriad details you need to DIY. Before Rick, I had to look in several sources for all that info, now it is in one place.

 

As I said above, I find his information light on history and details. But that's the beauty of a Kindle -- you can load several guidebooks and use whichever one has the info you need.

 

BTW, I highly recommend that anyone traveling to the Mediterranean read some basic history of the region in addition to simply reading a guidebook that will point out a few (Top 10) highlights. You don't have to take it with you, but reading it will put things in a different perspective. I always read a ton of books before going to any new destination, and I don't mean just guidebooks. :o

 

One book I can highly recommend for the Mediterranean is "The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean" by John Julius Norwich. It's a bit on the scholarly side but Norwich is a good writer and provides a commentary that moves along through the centuries and through many different empires pretty smoothly.

[iancal]

I think that it depends on where you are going in Italy. We have found that the guide books can vary in completeness depending on the region in Italy that you plan on visiting...and on your interests of course.