Customer Reviews

National Geographic Traveler: Italy (3rd Edition)

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

 

 

I just returned from a two-week trip to Italy with my family. My sisters and I had bought every guide to Italy possible - except this one. My father brought this National Geographics' version of a travel guide to Italy with him - and it was the one guide that we all fought over. The color pictures in this guidebook were amazing. Not only did it list everything interesting to see in a variety of different towns in Italy - it described the history and myth behind everything that you were seeing (and this is what is missing from most tour books in my opinion). The book even included interesting side sections, such as one on the old fashioned "Grand Tour of Europe". It was a pleasure to read about places that we never even made it to on our trip. This is a wonderful book to use during travel in Italy - or even as an interesting coffee table book. (The paperback version is light to carry and fits in a large pocketbook). Now that we have returned home and that the well used book is back in my father's possession, I am thinking of buying my own version just for memories (the pictures in the book I know will be better than the ones I took myself.) P.S. The book also includes a practical section that lists great hotels and restaurants.

What we love about the national geo series is that they entice you into getting ready for your trip. the photos, proposed walks and drives - these get a 5 out of 5. However, they are not good for finding a reasonably priced place to stay, eat, shop and in general finding your way around. For this I recommend a good road map and the Lonely Planet guide. We did 14 days Italy driving from Rome through Tuscany to Florence and the Nat'l Geo guide was essential for planning the trip.

This book is a wonderful companion to any trip to Italy. The pictures are beautiful (what I would expect of National Geographic) and the information within the book is full of history. We went with a tour group and from reading the book, we were a step ahead on the guides information many times. It also suggests not only the major tourist sites to visit, but also out of the way sites that you might not hear about otherwise. I did give this book four stars because, like another reviewer said, it doesn't give too much information on accomodations and where to eat. Other books may be better for that.

The best thing about this book is that you can use it as a book of memories because of the pictures. I highlighted all the places my mom and I went. Hopefully I will return and hightlight the entire book!

That's how this guidebook should've been called.

If you're traveling to Italy for the first time and visiting only Rome, Florence and Venice, buy this guidebook. The chapters about these wonderful cities are quite good. Besides, the self-guided walks suggested in Venice and Rome are excellent and very well explained. That's why I gave this guidebook 3 out of 5 stars.

However, if you're planning to visit other places in Italy, save your money and buy a different guidebook. Chapters about Bologna, Milan and, to some extend, Turin and Genoa are OK, but it's amazing how brief the information about other places is. I guess Tuscany and Umbria are adequate as well.

The chapter about Southern Italy is the poorest of all. A brief description of Naples, the Amalfi coast and the Gargano is the main focus along Pompeii, Ercolano & Paestum. A few lines are dedicated to places in Basilicata and Calabria.

There are also a lot places that are not even mentioned. For example, the author considers that if your stay in Italy is short, you shoudn't include Trieste in your itinerary. What if my stay isn't short? What if this isn't the first time I visit Italy? I've just arrived from an amazing week in Trieste and I totally thought that the city was worth visiting. There's no mention of Le Langhe in Piedmont or Il Salento in Apulia and except for a couple of paragraphs about the Dolomiti, Trentino-Alto Adige is practically non-existant. No Molise or Friuli-Venezia Giulia either.

The chapter about Sardinia is the worst. It says that Cagliari is a good base to explore nearby beaches and that Alghero's best beaches lie to the north, but which are those beaches? A lot about places in Sardinia are missing in this chapter and some places like Noto and Ragusa, in Sicily, are also missing.

Besides, This is the third edition, but there is still wrong information from the first edtion. For example, the Antique Market in Milan, is said to take place in the Brera quarter, but it really takes place in the Navigli quarter. When is this information going to be corrected?

Finally, National Geographic is famous for its illustrations, but this guidebook isn't really that case. The few choices of pictures about Sardinia, for example, are terrible. Some pictures also need updating. For instance, Piazza San Carlo, in Turin, is nowadays a pedestrianized area, but, for this chapter, they used an old picture showing a lot of cars parked in it.

Logistics are too general because, I'm under the impression, the author assumes you will have a car. Hotels and restaurants aren't on the budget side, but I always use the Internet when it comes to lodging, so I won't say that is important for me.

All in all, it's good if you're traveling to Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and around for the first time.

When you are traveling, especially now when you are charged for every bag
priorities change. This is a great book and I recommend it for anyone with the
time to do some research BEFORE you get on the plane. It is heavy, but that is
because the printing is very high quality and what we have come to expect from
National Geographic.

I love this book and I use it for "revisiting" my favorite places in Italy.

This is a great planning guide for where to go, what to see, and great itineraries. It is organized by region and is a nice blend of history, culture, and scenery. It provides some great pictures to wet your appetite. If there are choices of some great things to visit in a region, it tells you the best options and may also offer some great out of the way places that are nearby (like a beautiful waterfall that is a short walk from where you are). That said, it does not tell you much info on where to stay, where to eat, and what hours places are open for. That I would use another guide for.