Knopf Guide: Naples and Pompeii (Knopf Guides) [Paperback]

Knopf Guides (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 1996 | Series: Knopf Guides

The spectacular beauty of the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast are exploredin this handy guide, along with the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum.1,000 full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From the Inside Flap

The spectacular beauty of the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast are exploredin this handy guide, along with the ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum.1,000 full-color illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (December 9, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679764518
• ISBN-13: 978-0679764519
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,197,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #79 in Books > Travel > Europe > Italy > Naples

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best In-Depth Guide to the Naples area, March 12, 2002

By 

suetonius "seutonius" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knopf Guide: Naples and Pompeii (Knopf Guides) (Paperback)

The Knopf guides series are unique. They combine colorful pictures, in-depth historical background and detailed descriptions of sightseeing attractions. They are handsomely bound on bright glossy paper. I preferred the old style of plastic semi-hard binding that has recently been phased out. There are so many great places to visit in the Bay of Naples that they couldn't cover it all and include everything but it's better than any other I've seen.

Guides such as the Michelin Green Guides series will devote just a few paragraphs to an attraction. Such guides have the advantage of being organized in a more orderly way that's much more conducive to touring by car.You can read a few sentences about the place you are about to see before you get out of your tour bus or rental car. The Knopf guide instead would be better read at home even before taking any trip. The wise traveler would be best served by having an in-depth guide such as this or the Rough Guides series and a guide with brief descriptions like the Michelin guide.

The Naples guide contains excellent separate sections for Pompeii (over twenty pages), Paestum, Capri and Herculaneum.
If you are an archeology buff like me this is a great improvement over the 1 or 2 pages that other guides devote to these important but overlooked historical sites. The three delightful Greek temples at Paestum are older than the Parthenon in Athens and less than 100 miles south of Naples on a flat plain (no climbing up a hill as in Athens).

A minor negative point is the use of drawings where photographs would have been more useful; this seems to be true for all of the Knopf guides I've seen. An aerial photograph to give the lay of the land of a city or historical site would be more useful than a drawing that is of uncertain accuracy.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best travel guide for Naples, Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii, January 29, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Naples, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knopf Guide: Naples and Pompeii (Knopf Guides) (Paperback)

Informative and insightful. Excellent walking tours, important facts and historical backgound. Many good perspectives from writers and artists. This has been our "go to" book when we explore Naples. (We have lived in Naples for a year now.) Our best pre-trip purchase. JTP

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ciao, faccia da scemo!, December 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Knopf Guide: Naples and Pompeii (Knopf Guides) (Paperback)

You'll love this book if you're the type of person that also enjoys reading National Geographic. This guide is packed with wonderful art, drawings, maps, photographs, and interesting text. It's really much more than a typical tourist guide. It helps one have deeper understanding of Napoli through an exploration of history, culture, geography, and geology. It's an especially great selection for those people planning to call Napoli home.

RW - US Navy