Customer Reviews

The Civilized Shopper's Guide to Rome

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

 

 

This is a wonderful book for anyone to use as a "behind the main streets" guide to Rome. If you any desire to experience the real Rome rather than just falling in step with the thousands of tourists, this book will lead you to wonderful shops and experiences. Buy it long before your trip and study the routes. You will not be sorry.

Excellent idea, nicely executed, but 4 years is too long for a book like this not to be updated. About half of the restaurants/shops listed are no longer in existence. Much of the remaining information is no longer accurate.
It does provide a somewhat surreal experience to follow a map to an address only to find a car dealership where you expect a leather boutique to be. Otherwise i'm afraid this edition is fairly useless.

I've lived in Rome for years and often recommend this guide to friends. Not only is it tiny (and thus fits in a pocket), but it includes many wonderful little places that locals know and love and that tourists may miss completely.

I found this while looking for a good guidebook for my daughter to take to Italy. She was accompanying a friend of mine who loves to shop and this was the perfect little thank you gift to give to her before they left. It is very small (easy to carry on-board or while actually shopping), with one shop per page. It is aimed more at the little specialty shops and boutiques so I don't know if she was actually able to put it to use this trip, but she enjoyed getting it. My only worry is that since the book is several years old, I wonder how much of the information is outdated. Still, the perfect gift under the circumstances.

I love Rome. Off the beaten path and local favorites are my travel passion, and the shopping in Rome can't be beaten! So this book-ette, seemed a good choice. But I have to say, of the 46 books, and some odd hundred websites I comb looking for hidden secrets, this one is just okay. Its very small (about 4x4 inches) and difficult to read easily. So many of the suggestions are obvious and cliche. Though I do have two pages tagged for my upcoming visit.

I would consider it a fun and pretty gift for someone visiting Rome for the first time. Otherwise, save your pennies, they will be better spent on plastic rosary from St. Peter's square.