Fodor's Italy 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides) [Paperback]

Fodor's (Author)

Book Description

Series: Full-Color Gold Guides | Publication Date: October 7, 2008

Fodor’s. For Choice Travel Experiences.

Fodor’s helps you unleash the possibilities of travel by providing the insightful tools you need to experience the trips you want. Although you’re at the helm, Fodor’s offers the assurance of our expertise, the guarantee of selectivity, and the choice details that truly define a destination. It’s like having a friend in Italy!

•Your vacation never looked better. This Fodor’s full-color guide paints an unforgettable picture of Italy with vibrant maps, vividly illustrated features, and stunning color photos.

•Updated annually, Fodor’s Italy provides the most accurate and up-to-date information available in a guidebook.

•Fodor’s Italy features options for a variety of budgets, interests, and tastes, so you make the choices to plan your trip of a lifetime.

•If it’s not worth your time, it’s not in this book. Fodor’s discriminating ratings, including our top tier Fodor’s Choice designations, ensure that you’ll know about the most interesting and enjoyable places in Italy.

•Experience Italy like a local! Fodor’s Italy includes Rome, Florence, Venice, and much more!

•Fodor’s Italy includes unique photo-features that impart the country’s culture, covering Ancient Rome, Venice’s Grand Canal, the Cinque Terre, and much more!

•Indispensable, customized trip planning tools include “Top Reasons to Go,” “Word of Mouth” advice from other travelers, and tips to help save money, bypass lines, and avoid common travel pitfalls.

•Full-color pullout map.

Visit Fodors.com for more ideas and information, travel deals, vacation planning tips, reviews and to exchange travel advice with other travelers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In terms of comprehensiveness of coverage, the very accessible format, and the enthusiastic tone, this series remains one of the best on the market." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's super-informative guidebooks are known for accuracy and attention to detail…" –The Sacramento Bee
 
"The Fodor's guides are notable for their ratings of sights, restaurants, shops, accommodations and attractions." –Chicago Tribune
 
"The great detail, infectious spirit, and attractive format are distinguishing traits of these guides, which are entries in one of the top series in the business." –Booklist
 
"Fodor's can help you plan the perfect adventure" –The Arizona Republic
 
"Always thoughtfully written and easily readable, Fodor's travel guides have become a must-have when traveling to unfamiliar destinations" –Mid South Magazine
 
"Widely recognized as the gold standard of mainstream travel" –Honolulu Advertiser

About the Author

Each Fodor guide is researched and written by resident experts

Product Details

• Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Fodor's; Revised edition (October 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400019508
• ISBN-13: 978-1400019502
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Incomplete, February 22, 2009

By 

JGM (Stellenbosch, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fodor's Italy 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides) (Paperback)

Having previously used Lonely Planet guides, this was my first Fodor's guide. In terms of information, the guide is good - a little lightweight, perhaps, in accommodation options. The layout could be better, however, a little thought into the arrangement of information would make it easier to quickly locate the desired pages. Don't bother trying to locate information on Sardinia, however - there isn't any... This is my biggest gripe with the guide - we are all familiar with regional guides with in depth information regarding a specific region (eg Tuscany) and it is sometimes hard to decide whether to buy the country guide or the regional guide. I usually go for the country guide to give me an overview of the entire country, so I am very disappointed that this guide does not cover Sardinia. Back to Lonely Planet for me.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pack Your Bags!, February 9, 2009

By 

litaddiction (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fodor's Italy 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides) (Paperback)

A heavy block-of-a-book on the outside, Fodor's Italy 2009 (from the Full-Color Gold series) is packed with informative, well-organized and pleasingly presented material inside.

The entirety of Italy is an ambitious scope and Fodor's tackles it, with depth and breadth, according to geography: Rome; then northern Italy (e.g. Venice, Milan, et al); central Italy (Florence, Tuscany, and others); and southern Italy (Naples, Sicily, etc.). Each area gets some history, local culture, color photographs, and transportation info; but the emphasis is on vetted recommendations for sites/attractions, restaurants, lodging, entertainment and shopping. In urban areas, accompanying maps and charts convert the text into at-a-glance summaries.

I especially like the suggestions for walking and driving tours, and the "Need a Break?" recommendations for places to pause for a glass of wine, sandwich, pastry or gelato. The only odd and iffy aspect is the inclusion of "Word of Mouth" quotes from Fodor's online community of travelers -- mostly vacuous comments attributed only by screename -- that might fit on a casual website but strike a discord with this text's otherwise polished tone. Overall, the book's scope (and 960-page weight!) suit it best to armchair travel or as a starting point and planning tool -- indeed, I went from casual familiarity to an enthusiastic interest in visiting Italy as I read through this terrific guidebook.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide!, January 2, 2010

By 

C. Vella (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fodor's Italy 2009 (Full-Color Gold Guides) (Paperback)

This is an excellent guide book. I particularly enjoyed all the restaurant recommendations. They were amazing locations for very reasonable prices. Several of them only had locals, which enhanced the travel experience.