Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Italy, 4th edition

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In my view, this guide has both good and bad points. Let's start with the good points first. The guide is comprehensive, and it provides a lot of information about lesser-known cities and sights. This was important for me --- so many guide books focus only on Rome, Florence, Venice and other major tourist draws, and we spent almost all of our time off the beaten track. Even better, the guide has city-center maps for many small towns. This is a great feature, since it often is hard to find the tourist office right way (where you can usually get a more inclusive map). All in all, the information about opening hours and what to expect from sights is correct and helpful. Now on to the negative aspects. Since it is so comprehensive, this guide is VERY heavy and carrying it around as you tour is a drag. If you're only planning to visit one region of Italy, you may do better to buy a lightweight guide to just that area. Secondly, the guide offers almost no tips for drivers (e.g. the best way in and out of town, parking info, etc.). If you plan to travel by bus or train, you'll get some help, but travelers by car will be left out in the cold. Finally, the authors often set themsleves up as "oh-so-knowing" arbiters of taste. The ironic, rather arrogant tone can be off-putting at times, although not all sections of the guide are as bad in this respect as others.

I've used the Rough Guides literally around the world. I've been to Italy before, and I'm planning my trip for next May. This book is already a disappointment. In other books in the series, the assumption is that you've got a sense of exploration. You're just as willing to eat with a pack of camels in the middle of the Sahara as you are interested in staying at some wonderful over-the-top place like the Victoria Falls Hotel, because they're both experiences in their own rights. In addition, the guides typically contain excellent tactical explanations.

This book doesn't do that. It seems targeted at the Lonely Planet crowd. Amazingly, there are only two pages of hotels and hostels listed for Florence, and only about three for Venice! There are no options for if you want to spend a lot of money staying in someplace fabulous for a few days to blow your budget. The listings for restaurants are even more sparse.

What's good about it? It does seem to cover every monument in Italy, which is saying a lot. If you're a student of antiquities, it will do a good job of helping you find things. But for the first time in about 15 years, I'm actually going to rely on the Michelin Red Guide (and the Web) to find a bed and a meal.

The majority of reviewers have missed the point. This guide is a very useful, functional and easy to use guide in travelling around Italy. The guide concentrates on the basic stuff - the major things to see and do, hotels/accomodation, getting around. It's style is entertaining, which is very useful, especially sometimes when you are waiting for a train or bus that never arrives, and its necessary sometimes to have a sense of humour when traveling. The guide came in extremely useful. Its only draw back is its size, and its sometimes not recommended to drawn attention to your self when you need to pul out such a thick tourist guide.

I ordered this one by the Rough Guide brand name, after enjoying their Canada guide on my honeymoon. (My fault, should have read the customer reviews first!)

However, after reading this book, I don't want to go to Italy at all! I appreciate a clear-eyed view, but their consistently cynical attitude is too much.

According to them, Italy is a boring country full of churches, lame museums and herds of tragically average tourists. Their "too cool for school" attitude is really depressing. Stay away from this one.

I'm on the site looking for an upbeat and helpful book right now!