No comments about Blue Guide Venice, Eighth Edition (Blue Guides).

No comments about The Rough Guide to Florence & Siena (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

No comments about Venice Is a Fish: A Sensual Guide.

1 comments about The Most Beautiful Country Towns of Tuscany (Most Beautiful Villages Series).

1. a beautiful book. Pictures are evocative of the essence of Tuscany. Love Tuscany and this book does it justice.

5 comments about Italy With Kids (Open Road Travel Guides Italy With Kids).

1. This book was quite helpful to us in our trip to Northern Italy. All the restaurant suggested turned out well and the book gave us some great ideas of things to do with the kids. It is probably more useful with children 10 and under than for older kids although some of it is still applicable.



2. I bought this book prior to a trip to Italy with my 3-year-old son and was highly disappointed. The authors stick to only the most obvious siteseeing destinations and didn't provide the nitty gritty that a traveler with children really needs. For example, the chaper on Venice of course describes St. Marks, but makes no mention of the playground right near the train station. The Milan chapter mentions "The Last Supper" but overlooks a park we discovered that has a collection of dinosaur statues and a carousel.

   Another major omission: the authors made no mention of the fact that many youth hostels offer accommodations for families, and the YH in Verona was a real gem -- gorgeous grounds to run around on, a spacious room, and cheap meals. It was also about one block away from a playground. None of the accommodations listings mention the hostel option.

   Bring Lonely Planet and leave this book behind -- the luggage space is better used by a spare coloring book or toy.




3. We own every European travel book that exists. I can honestly say that this one is by far the worst one I have seen, hands down. The coverage of accommodations is sparse and only includes extraordinarily expensive hotels, for the most part, and the dining recommendations are little better. There are no unique tips in this guide and it really covers 6 cities, and not very comprehensively. I give an extra star for making the attempt to write a kids travel guide, since they are not common.



4. As other reviews have stated, this book is far from perfect. But I bought it as soon as I read the art-gallery hint (take crayons and paper). We just got back from a Picasso museum, and our 6-year-old was begging for freedom even though she learned about Picasso in kindergarten. The crayons would have been a lifesaver.
   
   On the upside, the authors understand what kids like and need, and give good hints on things they will like. On the downside, they don't seem to be the brightest bulbs on the planet (the book is filled with howlers like "wet your appetite" and "taxi cues"). They also seem to have a heck of a lot more money than I do (and I'm far from poor). Their idea of an inexpensive hotel is 95 Euros a night for a double (and the kids are extra!). That's my idea of splurging. I shudder every time they tell me that a particular cafe is "a bit pricey, but a good place to relax". I translate that to "lunch will cost more than you ought to be spending on a room."
   
   The second edition also suffers from sloppy proofreading. There are lots of places where prices are still given in lira. The Euro has been around long enough now that I have no clue what 5,000 lira would equate to.
   
   Even so, I'm glad I bought the book. I'll be able to sit down with my daughter and plan the trip together, and that alone is worth the price.



5. I was very disappointed with this book. I took 2 books it was ITALY DISCOVERY JOURNAL I turned to and it is the one my kids enjoyed the most. Pat had great insight about how to make your kids part of the experience, they will always remember this trip as with ITALY DISCOVERY JOURNAL they were part of the decisions.

5 comments about A Small Place in Italy (Travel Literature).

1. I read Love and War in the Apennines, and just completed A Small Place in Italy. No doubt the villages and the people have have changed. And there's something endearing about knowing your neighbors, and being a part of their lives. I did enjoy this book, and the other. But I can't help but feel that there is still a void to this whole series. I really want to know about Wanda. She must really me a fantastic woman.



2. Having a love for Tuscany and Umbria but not the income to live there, my partner and I read with some initial pleasure two books by people who renovated villas at vast cost and labour to the local tradesmen and wrote down lots of recipes - 'hell I'm such a cute and cultured Californian poetess patronising the locals once a year'.

   Then a friend lent us the Newby version. Forget the rest. Get the best. He and Wanda work hard. They know and respect their neighbours. Crisp words give life to vine-growing, mountains, meals and breakneck roads.

   This is the one: all else are imitations.




3. In 1967, British travel editor Eric Newby and his wife, Wanda, bought a primitive farmhouse in the hills between Liguria and Tuscany, the region where they met during World War II, Newby a soldier on the run between POW internments, Wanda a relief worker. They are the first foreigners to come live in their neighborhood, which remained unchanged from the time of the War; in fact, the country people, contadini, probably lived pretty much as they had for a couple of centuries or more. In the 25 years that the Newbys stayed, using the farmhouse as a second home but tending the land seriously, they were accepted and came to know the people and area well. A SMALL PLACE IN ITALY is a profile of their neighbors, their work, customs and the surrounding area. He offers up historical notes and chronicles the arrival of the late 20th century and loss of old ways.

   This book has everything going for it. Newby is honest, a truthful writer. He never sells out his subject for entertainment or sentimentality. He does not go the route of portraying the noble savage, he does not paint the peasantry as buffoons or children, he does not go over the top to prove that he is one of them. It is obvious that he and Wanda were quickly accepted into the community because they were hard workers who respected the land and were happy to share. There is a fine wit and spirit at hand. Newby has to be the most resilient person on earth (see A SHORT WALK IN THE HINDU KUSH for more evidence).

   Other virtues of this book: the pages whip by because Newby is brilliant at ordering his information. He also translates the Italian phrases and words that pop up routinely, so that those of us unschooled in Italian, particularly northern Italian expressions, are not at a loss.




4. I've read: "Under the Tuscan Sun", "Extra Virgin ...", "An Italian Affair", "In Maremma: Life and a House in Southern Tuscany", "Italian Neighbors" and I'm on my way to the library to pickup and start reading "Pasquales' Note: Idle Days in an Italian Town". I started reading these types of books when I got lonely for Italy after visiting in November of 2001. I just finished "A Small Place in Italy". Each of these books have something special in it that I enjoyed reading about. I really enjoyed reading about the person Attilio. Attilio came with the house when they purchased this house in Italy -- he had his own secret room. I enjoyed reading about how they hired their local tradesmen to renovate and repair this house. I hope I never run out of these types of books to read, I do plan to return to visit Italy, it would be a joy to visit some of these small towns.



5. The urge to escape the comforts, routine and refinements of our living conditions to somewhere more challenging, primitive and raw is something that many of us feel - especially those who read books. The books we read can sometimes stimulate the urge, sometimes satisfy it. All I ask of such books is that the author can write well and that he is not boastful.

   Eric Newby, especially in "A Small Place in Italy", meets these requirements admirably. Indeed, he ranks for me as a travel writer of near genius. He was almost 50 years old when he and his Italian born wife Wanda took up permanent residence in a ruined farmhouse in northern Italy. His account of the trials and tribulations that followed, the neighbors and the locality, is told in this wonderfully witty, readable and valuable book. Part of the value rests in the sociological and historical dimensions it gives. Even while he lived there, the customs, the occupations and the life styles were fast disappearing.

   If you enjoy this genre, you'll want to give "A Small Place in Italy" a prominent place on your bookshelf.

No comments about Michelin Green Guide Tuscany (Michelin Green Guides).

5 comments about La Dolce Vita (the Sweet Life) in Cortona, Tuscany Italy.

1. Between misspelled words and losing me fairly quickly into the read I still dream of spending a year in Bella Italia.



2. I could not finish it. My wife could, and told me that I was right not to.
   
   This book prompts several questions.
   
   1. Did the author actually live in Cortona, or just read all of the other books?
   2. Don't vanity publishers have spell checkers?
   3. Did anybody proof the galleys of this book? Firenze (Florence) is spelled correctly, then incorrectly, IN THE SAME SENTENCE!
   4. Will Amazon refund my money?
   5. Is this woman the model for Belinda Smith in Tuscany for Beginners?
   6. Does the Portuguese government know that she's going there next?
   
   We are lucky enough to know what it's like to spend time in southern Tuscany. This author doesn't (or didn't do the time)
   
   I have great respect for writers; the blank page is an awesome adversary. To the list of Dario Castagno, Frances Mayes, Ferenc Mate, and Marlena Di Blasi, add Isabella Dusi, Tim Parks, Henry James and Goethe. But not this author.



3. I enjoyed Charlotte's book... not so much for her writing skills, but for the reminders of the Tuscan hill town that I fell in love with 6 years ago. While I don't live in Cortona, my heart lives there, with the people, places, sights, sounds and wonderful friends I've made there through the years. I've been traveling to Italy for more than 25 years and Cortona is my heart of hearts. Many of the people in her book are people that I personally know in Cortona. While some may criticize Charlotte's book, I applaud her for not wallowing in her divorce woes, instead she made a new life for herself.



4. Even though the publisher sent out the wrong book before editing, I overlooked it all and just enjoyed reading the humorous experiences that Ms Phillips had during her first stay in Cortona. I am also an expat living in Italy and I can appreciate all the problems she encountered and she certainly had a knack for adding humor to the most disasterous events. If you want to know what the inside of a church looks like, then you should consult a guide book. This was not a guide book nor was it meant to be-I think the author wrote like she was telling it to me over cappuccino, and I truly enjoyed journeying through her year in Cortona. It was a delightful read.



5. While there were some interesting passages in "La Dolce Vita," the grammar, spelling and typographical errors were so numerous that it was distracting and frustrating to read. The best parts could be found better written in a tour guide.

1 comments about Italy by Bike: 105 Tours from the Alps to Sicily (Dolce Vita).

1. Good route descriptions for the touring cyclist. The routes are a bit short and unchallenging for the expereinced cyclist or the cyclist seeking challenging training terrain. This is a good guide, and I have not found anything better. Recommend.

1 comments about Italian Hours (Penguin Classics).

1. The films 'Room With a View' and 'Wings of the Dove' make one wonder about the Italy reflected in classical paintings executed before the destruction of WWII. My curiousity was heightened in an art history class when the instructor showed a photo slide of the Ponte Vecchio and told the amazing story of the Nazi pilot who disobeyed orders to destroy the last bridge the allies could cross on their advance north.

   This beautiful book brings to mind the saying, "The Past is a Foreign Country." Italy of the 19th Century is a place none of us can know except through records left by one who witnessed it. The book consists of essays James wrote on his travels to various places in Italy including Venice, Rome, and Florence. He visited some places several times and the text reflects the changes he observed on revisits.

   He records an Italy whose poverty for a time prevented the intrusion of developers, who later made many changes perhaps for the worse. James was not a worshipper of old buildings, he appreciated them, but he was also aware of the suffering of the Italians, many of whom existed in dire poverty. His reflections on various cathedrals, churches and other objects of artistic interest are humanized by his comments about the individuals he encounters. He muses on the morality of travel, "whether it has been worthwhile to leave his home [and] encounter new forms of human suffering." His awareness of the Italians themselves makes his writing a bit like that of Paul Theroux, a travler and writer in our times. James differs from Theroux however. My sense is that James is a little less likely to criticize and a little more willing to overlook unpleasantness. Perhaps that makes him less of a realist, or perhaps Italy was a more pleasant place in the 19th Century.