Customer Reviews

100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go (Travelers' Tales) (Travelers' Tales Guides)

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I received this book as a gift and I cannot put it down. Not your typical travel book, Ms. Van Allen weaves wonderful tales of wonderful places filled with lusty, historic and heroic women, beautiful scenery, and Italian wanderlust. I have now realized that I must extend my planned 10 day trip to Italy to at least a month so I can take in all the wonders Ms. Van Allen has made come to life. I now cannot wait to see Mary's Sacred Girdle, Salome dancing, soak in Saturnia and listen to the divas of the Torino Opera House. This book will not just guide your Italian dream vacation , but also spark your imagination!!! I would recommend it to anyone (male or female) who is planning a trip to Italy, or just dreams of Italian adventures.

In this trim- sized (5.5 X 7.5 in.), relatively compact, uniquely- anecdotal, informative guide book intended for women, but also appropriate for men, who are traveling to Italy for the first or twenty-first time, Van Allen (author writing about Italian travel for over twenty-five media outlets including National Public Radio, Town & Country, Student Traveler, the Chicago Daily Herald, and [...]; author of monthly Letters from Italy column on the Divine Caroline website; former staffer for the Emmy winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond; based in Los Angeles; [...]), an Italian-American who has been journeying to Italy since 1976 to visit relatives and explore the country, writes about her personal experiences as well as those of her friends. With passion and humor that clearly evidence her love for Italy, its cultures, and peoples, the author culls the overwhelming amount of information on Italian travel into a reasonably- sized publication consisting of thirteen sections, one hundred chapters, and at least two appendices, covering all types of Italian adventures and experiences. With women predominately in mind, Van Allen describes and recommends museums, palaces, gardens, beaches, beauty treatments, spas, caffés, restaurants, winebars, shopping, biking, hiking, skiing, boating, yoga, cooking classes, Italian crafts, fine arts, language courses, entertainment, and more. She also provides many practical details and helpful tips in relatively short, concise chapters, each of which is supplemented by "golden days" or daily itineraries, lists of websites, and recommended readings. While this publication is not available as an ebook and lacks reference maps, photographs, an Italian-English glossary, and tear-out pages, all of which would have been helpful, value-added features, it does contain much useful, insightful, nuts-and-bolts information for women travelers and others visiting Italy. Sufficiently- documented, nicely-presented, and well- organized, this delightful, easy-to-read book is highly recommended for chick-lit readers as well as general audiences. It belongs in many public library collections as an additional travel resource.

In this delectable morsel of a book--sure to delight readers of both sexes--Susan van Allen gives us 1,000 intriguing reasons to visit the places she knows and describes so well. After 25 years of visiting Italy, I found new treasures I can't wait to explore, with this book in hand. Brava!La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language

Susan Van Allen has written a love letter to Italy.

"100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go" is a compendium of captivating tales, useful tips and enchanting places seen from a woman's perpective. Susan's itineraries add depth and novelty to the Italian dream vacation. Her comprehensive information, interlaced with fascinating insider knowledge, make this book a must have for independent women travelers seeking to discover Italy's hidden treasures.

I am Italian, and reading this book opened my eyes, taught me of places and hidden wonders even I didn't know of! I strongly recommend this title and its inspired Italy expert information.

You can read my review and an excerpt of the book on my website:[...]


Ciao!

Van Allen crisscrosses Italy from top to bottom, touching the Big Three (Venice, Florence and Rome) and covering lesser-visited spots, but her tour is not that of a typical guidebook. In her words, she's created a cookbook from which one can pick and chose according to one's tastes--art, eating, shopping, etc.

But what makes Van Allen's book unique is the lens she's chosen to view Italy. Her focus is on women--the Madonna, Venus and Italy's myriad goddesses and female saints.

In Rome, most guidebooks introduce the Michelangelo-designed Piazza del Campidoglio and direct visitors to the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius inside the museum. Van Allen instead highlights Minerva in the piazza and directs us to the demure Venus inside. She tells us about Venus's hot affairs with Mars and Adonis, gossiping as if Venus were someone she knew today. She does this in every one of her favorite churches and museums throughout Italy. The first half of the book, focused on art and history, is my favorite part.

In the second half, she looks through the female lens with a more secular focus--gardens, spas, sports, shopping, cooking, culture and more. I especially like her Golden Days, her suggestions for other things to see at each venue with recommendations for dining and lodging.

Van Allen's "100 Places in Italy" might be better titled "1000 Places"--it's so packed with information. I'll be tucking this into my bag on my next visit.

This cornucopia of Italian delights titillates the senses and entices the imagination. Occasionally fringing on the irreverent (who else but Susan van Allen would dream of calling the Blessed Virgin Mary the BVM, for instance - only kidding, grrll!), and bordering on the erotic (as in Susan's description of The Capitoline Venus attempting to cover her "Cupid's cloister"), Susan's selective guide to Italian beauty and beauties scampers through both urban and rural landscape with exuberant glee.

Ranging from the divine to the decadent, Susan's romp through the Italian past and present has one hankering for more. The Divine: Goddesses, Saints, and the Blessed Virgin Mary takes one from the Campidoglio, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill to the Temple of Segesta in Sicily, by way of the artistic splendors of Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Padua, Naples, Campania and Palermo. In each, she focuses on the female, the envisioned and the immortal, as portrayed in key works of art. Instructive and elucidating, she entices one with succulent morsels of information about the work and the artist involved. Suggesting the best times at which to visit all the museums and galleries that she recommends, Susan also gives handy tips on how to plan one's jaunts for the day, including visits to nearby parks and restaurants. She even manages to sneak in extra tidbits of recommended reading, not to mention a novice's guide to mythology and Mary's rites of passage.

A little bit of history, a little bit of art... The second section of Susan's 100 Places romps through the spacious ville, palazzo and an apartment, starting once more in Rome and ending in Sicily - an added bonus to her racy pace is the systematic way in which she unravels the labyrinthine. Her sense of enthrallment with her surroundings is intoxicating, as she seduces us into imagining the scenes of revelry and mayhem that permeated the past.

Susan van Allen appears not only to appreciate the intimacy of the boudoir, but also the graceful and cultivated structuring of the outdoors. Finding la dolce vita in the harmonious blend of greenery, sculpture, and fountains that typifies the finest in Italian landscape gardening, she explores gardens originating in the Renaissance and Baroque periods - not without a timely reminder that most gardens close down November to March, so best check ahead to avoid disappointment.

Susan then extends her delight in the outdoors to an overview of the finest of Italian beaches, while, on the way, introducing one to the niceties of beach etiquette regarding such key points (;)) as topless bathing and clubbing. Mmm, and after indulging in all those sun-drenched days, what next but to explore the most refreshing and soothing of beauty treatments offered by leading spas (contact details provided)...

The culinary delights of Italy await you next, as Susan encourages you to "pursue your passion for tasting by heading to the country and visiting a [woman-owned] winery" and to "indulge your tastebuds as you tune into delicious daily rhythms" of eating out at an urban caffè. Gelato, chocolate and wine are never too far from an Italian lover's mind...

...and which woman does not love to shop...shoes, leather and paper ware, ceramics, jewelry, fragrances, lingerie, embroidery and lace...not to speak of shopping in Milan or at the antique markets, Susan explores them all.

Just in case you think that van Allen only indulges the feminine instinct of womankind, in her next section she counters by yielding to the wild buccaneering instinct that's hidden deep within us all. In her section on active adventures, she introduces us to biking, hiking, skiing, boating, yoga and Pilates, Italian style.

Having worked up a sufficiently good appetite through adventuring abroad (pun intended), Susan brings us home with a flourish in her section on cooking classes. She equates taking a cooking class in Italy with "getting a backstage pass to the country's soul".

After cooking with Susan in Rome, Tuscany, Parma-Emilia-Romagna, Ravello, Campania and Calabria (don't you just revel in rolling those names off your tongue?), you can learn any one of a vast range of Italian crafts and culture before being entertained at an array of cultural and sporting venues. Then, rounding it all off, she advocates reading about, and developing your own memories in, Italy.

100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go concludes with handy tips for Italian travel (though the entire work churns with such ideas...) and packing, a calendar (or should I say colander?) of holy days, and a detailed index. By this stage, if you are not fully replete and with your dates for your next Italian jaunt at least penciled in on your schedule, may the BVM come to your aid, sister... [Reviewer for [...]]

This book truly has some very useful tips and information that I haven't found anywhere else. There are many things here I'll make use of on my next trip to Italy. And this is the ONLY travel guide that's ever made me laugh out loud. Good work, Susan!

This is a great book! It was as if Ms. Van Allen was my best friend telling me about her favorite places to go. Her point of view is truly feminine but I am sure many men would thoroughly enjoy this book as well. It makes a great read while you plan your Italian vacation so you can figure out the places you really want to see. I especially enjoyed her description of Michelangelo's Pieta. It actually brought tears to my eyes especially knowing I will see the real sculpture in a few months. I recommend this book.

What a book! So full of information for a traveler and so well organized! Learn where and how to travel, where to dine,out of the way places most tourists miss (Believe me, I know, I've been there before.) Want to attending cooking classes, learn leather work, art restoration? This book has it all. Anyone planning a trip to Italy (especially women) this book is a must !!!!

The one place that I want to see before I die, is Italy. I've always been fascinated with the beauty of Italy. It's such a gorgeous place and I adore Italian food. I know for a fact that the first place I would visit would have to be Rome. I want to see the Pieta at Saint Peter's Basilica. Then I would move on to Florence to see the Costume Gallery. Of course I would have to visit Florence.

After reading this book, I want to go more than I ever imagined possible. The details included brought Italy to life for me. I hope I get to take a trip soon.