Customer Reviews

City Secrets: Rome

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful travel guide, full of interesting insights (e.g. visit the Capitoline piazza at night; sprint through the maze of the Vatican museums to the Sistine chapel to enjoy a crowd-free half-hour there) and great restaurant suggestions with helpful comments on each one. In fact, you can buy the guide for the restaurants alone and not be disappointed. Each is described in detail with suggested dishes and pithy comments, and each is marked on the map. Marking restaurants on the street map is not usually done in travel guides, but is so helpful, because as you find yourself in a particular neighborhood yearning for a good meal you can simply turn to the page and locate a number of nearby eateries. This avoids the awkward and time-consuming ordeal of locating restaurants by street address. I fully concur with editor Kahn's priorities in mentioning the touristy Spanish Steps in a few lines, but spending six insightful pages on the stunning Borghese art gallery.

This is not a stand-alone guide, as it lacks information on hotels and other important travel information (transportation, embassies, currencies, etc.), but it is a brilliant and useful tool for those who already have a standard guide book and would like a bit more, or for those who are already familiar with Rome.

Before journeying to Rome in March, my best friend and I were lucky enough to pick up City Secrets: Rome. We quickly found that there was no need to carry around our other hefty guidebooks, because the wacky, erudite scholars who provided commentary for City Secrets gave us the insider's look at all of the monuments and museums, as well as fabulous restaurant and shopping recommendations. Although the book lacks entries on certain places that the first-time tourist might wish to see (well, the Trevi Fountain is mentioned, but with great disdain), it includes off-the-beaten-track splendors like Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza and culinary delights like Gelateria San Crispino ("the best gelato in Rome") and Vecchia Roma ("the best meal of your life"). The contributors have seen Rome from every angle and fill the pages with colorful commentary ("Seeing a white column of snow drifting down the middle of the Pantheon is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.") The only criticism is that the maps of each section of the city, while incredibly detailed,do not link up to one another, so it's often hard to figure out how to get from one spot in the Campo Dei Fiori to another north of the Pantheon. That said, "the little red book" was indispensable. We're looking forward to the rest of the series.

This is a small, wonderful book that is a pleasure to recommend to both the novice and experienced traveler. This is not a book for anyone in need of a step-by-step itinerary planner. Rather, this book provides a series of suggested angles and perspectives from which this magnificient city can be experienced and enjoyed. By way of City Secrets Rome, my wife and I found Vecchia Roma and enjoyed one of the great restaurant experiences of our lives. At La Taverna da Giovanni, I mentioned Danny Meyer's name and received personal greetings from the chef/owner and his mother and was gifted with a platter of fantastic green olives. Capitoline Hill is spectacular anytime, but perhaps especially at night. I could keep going. The beauty of this book is that it encourages one to step outside the tyranny of the "must see" approach and explore. I hope similar approaches for other cities are forthcoming.

A good guide book, such as the Eyewitness guide, is essential for unbiased information. This is its perfect complement. It offers the personal opinions of many different people from different fields; authors, architects, gourmets etc. - which makes for interesting reading in itself. You don't have to agree with them!
Rome is divided into 11 sectors, for easy reference. Clearly marked maps are included for easy navigation. There are little details to look out for and tips about local custom as well as recommended strolls, views and pilgrimages, and places to eat and drink and shop. We would have missed highly enjoyable experiences, such as eating in Volpetti's, Tasso D'oro coffee but for this book. Helpfully, the book is small and compact - easy to tuck into a pocket or bag. It has pages for your own notes so that you can add your own opinions and favourites (or notes of good toilets!) and make this a truly personal record, which becomes full of your own memories.

I'd actually rate this book as 3 1/2 stars. As other reviewers have noted, the book isn't a typical stand-alone guidebook. We traveled to Rome in November 2004 and used this book as a companion to more a more standard guidebook. The book is very nice quality, attractive, and small. The various authors, which include several notable scholars, provided unique insight that helped us find some cool and overlooked places and also pointed our some particular things about places that we wouldn't have otherwise noticed.

Since the book doesn't appear to be regularly updated, I would say it is much more useful for the insights regarding architectural/cultural aspects, such as the forum or the many public squares, but less valuable as a guide to eateries or shopping areas that are more likely to change. Some of the recommended restaurants and stores were not at the listed address.

Also, one of the writers recommended arriving early and rushing through the Vatican museum so that you can arrive at the Sistine Chapel before the crowds and view it in relative solitude. We did this, but be aware that the museum is arranged as a rather long one-way tour and the Sistine Chapel is near the end. We followed the advice and rushed through to the Sistine Chapel, thinking we would go back and revisit the other sites, but the museum is so large that we didn't have time or feel like going back through it all again. By rushing through, I think we missed a lot.

This is one good guide: maps are remarkable, size - perfect, and the external qualities: paper, binding, typeface - everything whispers this discreet attention to detail, solid and reliable and trustworthy.

But please - do not take it as your only guide to Rome, for it is not meant for beginners, it is not a cheerful mainstream introduction. It will not give you most basic details or opening times or transport arrangements - just VERY subjective impressions, and suggestions from the people who know and love Rome professionally - architects, lecturers, artists. And however good maps are, perhaps you could do with a much more detailed one. I used a map from Eyewitness Guide, it worked very well together with this little book.

Approach City Secrets Rome in an open-minded way, never expecting that it will give you exhaustive account of what to see, and you are in for a treat. I loved every bit of its confident, unassuming and at the same time unashemedly elitist writing. The author opens with a story how he was buying a box of cubans in Rome and how the price was too much for him, a poor soul. Well, in my humble opinion, a student who can afford a box of Cuban cigars is kinda more or less sorted for cash, thank you very much. This episode does set the tone and the register for the rest of the writing: no comparative dumpster analysis of Lonely Planet school there, and, most importantly, no Lonely Planet treatment of a foreign city like a cheap shop which deserves to have every bargain cheated, coaxed and squeezed out of it.

You don't have to like the book's assumption that you should be able to afford any admission charge and a decent restaurant meal if you bothered to travel at all. So make sure this book's for you, and if it is - enjoy.

I was so excited to discover this book that I couldn't wait to get home to read it. But I found the book uneven at best -- and it's now gathering dust on my bookshelf.

The problem is that the so-called "secrets" the book uncovers are dominated by sites and histories that anyone who has been to Rome more than once or twice would have already heard about or stumbled upon. In many cases, they are so obvious -- Ever heard of the Imperial Forum? Does St. Peter's ring a bell? -- that it was hardly worth wading through it to find the few really worthwhile suggestions.

That said, none of the recommendations are unworthy of attention. It's only that the title "city secrets" seems to imply something for the more advanced visitor or resident. Instead, a large minority of the secrets are available from any general guidebook.

The recommendations reflect that eclectic group of contributors who collaborated to produce the volume. But it would have benefited enormously from a finer filter that could weed out the most obvious places. Of course, that would have left enough for a good airline magazine story and not a book.

I used this book on my first trip to Rome. I am a graduate student who traveled there alone to do research on art and architecture. I had a limited amount of time and money and needed to carefully edit what I spent time on. This book, with its subjective reviews and little tidbits about walking tours and restaurants, helped me make me decisions and organize my day. It was much more efficient to create an itinerary from the data in this book than from the let's go guide. However, it does not give crucial info. on closing an opening times that other books have.

The reviewers are reputable. I bought it orginally because I recognize some of their names and know their work and taste. I was not let down.

Most of all I appreciated the maps and format of the book. I got mildly lost many times while walking around. Each time I turned to this book to find my way again. It has some of the the best neighborhood maps I could get a hold of. And becuase sites of interest are clearly marked I ventured into places I would not have otherwise gone. The size and scale of the book are perfect. You can even hold it in your hand without feeling like a total tourist. And the indexes at the back are useful.

A really good book. Get it and use it as a supplement to a something like Let's Go, or Fodor's, or whatever you like.

While planning my third, and most recent, trip to rome, I researched with my "knopf" and "eyewitness" guidebooks.
But I also had this little gem of a book, "City Secrets Rome", that gave me the perspective of authors, artists, architects and historians and pointed out their favorite "sights" including a few shops and restaurants.
This book is an absolute must for anyone planning on a trip of more than a few days to this beautiful city.
Not only does it have the book divided into city areas, but each section is prefaced with a very detailed street map of the area, numbering the highlights of that particular chapter.
And, best of all, it is small, easy to fit in a purse, or simply hold, as I did, everytime I went "exploring".
I ran into several people that,upon seeing the book in my hand, shared their enthusiam for the book.
this third trip was the best, and now I'm looking forward to the fourth one, again with this book 'in hand'!

Last time I went to Rome it was without a guide book. Having been there several times I didn't feel the need for basic information which weighs down the luggage.

However NEXT time the first thing I am going to pack is this delightful volume. As it says "This is a highly subjective guidebook, reflecting the personal visions of our respondents. "
It is highly successful in that. Agree or disagree with points of view, they are thought provoking and a joy to read.

The only slight difficulty I have with the book is that I need a very strong light to read it in, what with middle aged eyesight. The sepia like print, whilst adding to the aesthetics of the book, is not as distinct as a clearer print might be.