1 comments about AAA Spiral Florence, 3rd Edition (Aaa Spiral Guides).

1. I love the AAA series for travel guides. Each one has a map in the back of the city, plus breaks the city up by regions. If there is a metro in the city (typically there are in Europe), it also has a map of the metro. It offers suggested tours for hitting the major attractions, plus some walking tours for off the beaten path. The best part of the book is that it's thin and fairly lightweight in comparison with most travel books, making it easy to throw it in your purse, backpack or coat pocket AND doesn't add a ton of weight to your suitcase! The only downside is that I wish they had a map of the entire country so it's easy to reference where the city is in relation to other cities. But other than that, I highly recommend it!

No comments about Wallpaper City Guide: Venice (Wallpaper City Guides) (Wallpaper City Guides).

1 comments about Blue Guide Southern Italy, Eleventh Edition (Blue Guides).

1. A guide book should
   
   1. review hotels, with phone numbers, email, website, closing seasons, price, and comments on quality;
   
   2. review restaurants, with cuisine, price, phone numbers, email, website, and closing times and days;
   
   3. have maps of towns with detailed and labeled streets (including one-way), marked with recommended hotels, restaurants, parking, and sites;
   
   4. good regional maps for driving;
   
   5. drawn or photographed areas for orientation;
   
   6. printed plans of museums (with opening times and days) and identifying diagrams of detailed art works;
   
   7. religious notes;
   
   8. and detailed discussion of the picturesque, the beautiful, the sublime - in nature and the arts - for the plucky, intelligent, curious, willing-to-learn, urbane, cosmopolitan traveler, done with a sense of history.
   
   The reader of this review should know that for me #8 outweighs all the others put together. For ##1-6 there are probably better travel books than The Blue Guides, the latter treating these matters a bit too cursory. A brief thumb-through in a large bookstore will tell which other guidebooks might meet these criteria - though British books are better than American, the British a less parochial and better educated people (perhaps I should add: I live in the South of the US). There are certainly better guidebooks for #7. Yet for #8, in English (those in German are better, the Germans an even more cosmopolitan and urbane people), The Blue Guides are the best, at least for those books most regularly updated. I have bought them for years and for every destination traveled. The Blue Guides are also kind enough to put the date of publication in the front, unlike the guidebooks of assorted confidence men and hucksters - a testimonial to the Blue Guide's integrity.
   
   The _Blue Guide Southern Italy_, 2007 (11th ed.), has 584 pages, of which the first 289 are Campania. Basilicata is covered in pages 291-318, Calabria 319-368, Abruzzo and Molise together 369-428, and Puglia 427-528. Unlike earlier editions, Latium south of Rome is excluded, leaving one to hope that Latium-Beyond-Rome will be a future Blue Guide. There are a copious index, a glossary of special terms, diagrams of the classical orders, and historical charts. Maps of many towns are provided. Just enough photos are included without the text turning into a glossy coffee table tome, and there are floor plans of important museums and churches. Usually how-to-get-there by means of train, bus, and car is discussed. The description of #8, especially with respect to the arts, is good - the book's real selling point. And it's not printed on cheap paper.
   
   Puglia deserves a book of its own, and another for Basilicata and Calabria. Perhaps the British and Irish don't go there (Blue Guides are published in the UK). The recent publication of a _Blue Guide Marche_ leads one to hope.

5 comments about A Tuscan Childhood.

1. Prior to her death, Kinta Beevor wrote only one book -- A TUSCAN CHILDHOOD -- which would have been better titled "My Life in Tuscany" as it really is the tale of her connection to Tuscany over period of 40 years that included her childhood. Beevor, whose maiden name was Waterfield, was the daughter Aubrey the artist and his wife Lina Gordon, both British ex-pats who lived and worked in Italy during the first half of the 20th Century. The family owned the fabulous 15th Century Fortezza della Brunella which the family called "the castle" and Lina inherited Poggio Gherardo which was almost as old. Both properties came with extensive farm lands. As a result the Waterfields lived lives of comfort -- socializing with the rich and famous (D.H.Lawrence for one) and feeding them to-die-for meals and sending their much neglected children back to England for schooling.

   Though I became weary of name-dropping, I found Beevor's book an enjoyable read. Her mention of various rich and famous folks is as natural as can be--just tiresome in the same way a story told over and over by an older person can be. She says her son encouraged her to write down what she could remember, and I suspect he did so after he heard her stories several times. Fortunately, someone had the good sense to publish the book for a wider audience.

   Ms. Beevor obviously loved Tuscany--her father's castle where the family restored and maintained a beautiful garden on the roof, her mother's house which Beevor's mother gained the use of on the death of her Aunt Janet, and the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Beevor's description of the sea as the train approached Aulla for her summer vacations from school in England is as well written as anything Lawrence ever wrote, and no doubt she was quite knowledgeable of his works given he was a family friend.

   After WWII, faced with death duties on the Poggio Gherardo following the death of Beevor's brother John, and huge expenses owing to the damage inflicted on both properties during the war (the retreating Nazis and the encroaching Allies made a mess, the latter found an autographed photo of Mussolini in the castle and wrecked havoc) the family was forced to sell up and return to England.

   Beevor's book contains passages that reminded me of bitter-sweet scenes in "The English Patient", the "Jewel in the Crown", "Tea With Mussolini", "Out of Africa", "Room With a View" and other works written by European ex-pats returned to their home of origin. Ms Beevor was undoubtedly well read and understood the withdrawal of the British Empire following WWII, and in her closing chapters she shares her thoughts about the effect of that withdrawal on Italy. Italy of course was not a colony, but the British had truly made themselves at home in Italy before the war (and may have done so once again).




2. The only book Kinta Beevor ever wrote, it was perhaps the only book she could have written. Her obvious love for her magical childhood in Tuscany (esp the years before she was shipped off to England for school) shines forth from every paragraph as she recounts her life as one of the benignly-neglected children of a pair of English aristocrats who owned a 15th century castle, the Fortezza della Brunella, as well as a villa above Florence.
   Centered around two very different periods of the author's life, the rural castle and the more urban villa, A Tuscan Childhood is full of famous people (her parents were part of the literati), beloved peasant farm workers, nursemaids, and Aunt Janet, upon whose death the villa falls into the hands of Ms. Beevor's mother.
   Toward the end, in diatribes against Mussolini, the Allies, death taxes, and everything and everyone else, an old lady's peevishness with changing times mars what is otherwise a lovely and evocative piece of writing.



3. Kinta Beevor, author of only this book, comes from a family of writers, including her son, the reknown author, Antony Beevor. It must be a genetic feature that families produce wonderful writers.
   She draws you into her world, like a welcoming friend. You will experience historic events and the world as it was in Tuscany in the 19th century and the early 20th century. You will get to know many of the distinguished and famous persons who visited the Waterfields and best of all, you will become acquainted with "Aunt Janet", the famous English writer, Janet Ross.
   I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Tuscany and in warm and inviting family experiences and how they are influenced by world events.



4. This book really takes you to Tuscany, as it was for British ex-patriates between World War I and World War II. Everything is here - the people, the landscape, the food. Highly recommended!



5. What amazed me about this book is that in spite of the author's English silver-spoon upbringing (sometimes it's hard to figure out which castle she's in at the moment) she gives the reader such an intimate portrait of the country, the scenery, the customs and the people of Tuscany. When you read of all the artistic and literary nobility that her parents had entertained, it's hard to fathom how she found the opportunities (and she did find them...) to relate so well to the local people. I have read many books written by authors who lived with and among the rural peasantry that don't give any better or more appealing feel for the country. I would hate to have missed this book!

2 comments about Frommer's Venice Day by Day (Frommer's Day by Day).

1. This one book has everything--explanations, pull out map, and a useful dictionary. I bought other products and this is really all I need for Venice.



2. My wife and I recently stopped in Venice on our honeymoon. We followed this book's recommendation of the best pastry shop in Venice and found ourselves in a piazza with a store that had a gelato stand and a couple of muffins. We've tried 3 of these Frommer's dad by day guides now and are always underwhelmed. We were impressed with the Rick Steve's book for Italy which had a large section on Venice. Your hotel or any store in the area can provide you with a much much better map than this book has for 3 euros.

5 comments about Food and Memories of Abruzzo: Italy's Pastoral Land.

1. I am very disappointed since I have not received the book after more than one month!!!!



2. Please don't count complaints about delivery time in reviews of books like this one. I think it is a terrific book. Shame on you, Delivery Person!



3. I bought this book for my husband, who is the son of an Abruzzi native. He loves the book (and to cook), but I've found it absolutely captivating and can't put it down! I've made several of the recipes in it, that are very simple and fairly easy to prepare, and loved all of them. Though even throughout the region, each individual village may have their own spin or variation of these recipes, they are turning out to be quite authentic. I have several friends from the south-western region of Abruzzo. I have made them many of the dishes in this book (a brave feat indeed - cooking Italian food for Italians), and they asked where I learned how to cook like this, that it is just like the dishes they eat and prepare at home (Italy)! I've shared the book with one special friend who also cooks incessantly for her family. She travels back to Abruzzi twice annually and she found recipes in it that her mother used to make! She was so excited, she kept the book to write down a few recipes, but I'm going to buy her her own copy. Thank you Anna-Marie Callen!



4. My family is from the Abruzzo region and I just recently visited. I love that each recipe has a story related to it. Many recipes are similar to what my grandma had made. I first bought one for a gift, and read it before I gave it to my mom. So I had to buy one for myself.



5. This is not a compilation of authentic native recipes. In fact, it is more a mini-memoir of the author's childhood. For authenticity, see Italian Regional Cooking by Ada Boni.

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.

3 comments about A Traveller's Companion to Venice (The Traveller's Companion Series).

1. Lord Norwich is a consumate storyteller with an incredible ability to weave various sources of information into a compelling narrative--or in this case, a series of anecdotes. I can hardly recommend this highly enough. His choices of material are brilliant, his narration masterful, and the overall sense of place perfectly fitted to the Most Serene Republic.
   
   Also not to miss is his A History of Venice and Paradise of Cities: Venice In the 19th Century. The letters written by Euphemia Ruskin inspired several characters in my second novel!
   
   Venice for Pleasure is useful for the traveler or writer, as well, as is Jan Morris' The World of Venice.



2. I bought this anthology in the months prior to a trip to Venice, after reading editor John Julius Norwich's excellent "A History of Venice", to which it makes a terrific companion volume. These first-hand historical accounts present a colorful review of divergent viewpoints on "La Serinissima", from its distant origins in the Dark Ages up through the 20th century.
   
   Though billed as a "traveller's companion", this is not a guide book in any sense of the phrase; rather, it serves to give one a sense of the history and character of the city and its most prominent features through letters, journals, and essays spanning the nearly 1400 years of its existence. Amongst the commentators are humorists like Mark Twain, great eccentrics like Thomas Coryat, litterateurs such as Henry James and aesthetes like John Ruskin -- and their contrasting views create a multifaceted portrait of this unique city, full of surprises and compulsively readable.
   
   For those who want a sense of the hidden history and culture under the dazzling surface of Venice, who want to more deeply appreciate the city and its sights while experiencing them, this collection is highly recommended.



3. I read this book cover-to-cover before, during, and after a recent trip to Venice. I have to say that more than any of the other books about Venice that I looked at, this one had the most profound and positive impact on my trip and understanding of the city. No, it certainly won't tell you where to stay or eat, and you probably won't find yourself looking up churches and museums in it like you might in the Blue Guide or some other book. But the centuries of travelers' observations compiled in its pages will bring color and life to the city and its monuments and public spaces in a way that no single guide or history could. The passages in this book are not merely informative; they are also highly engaging and range from touchingly serious to laugh-out-loud funny. If you are going to Venice, or if you merely want to travel there from your armchair, get this book before you even consider getting any other!

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

5 comments about Venice & The Veneto (City Guide).

1. Some devoted followers of Lonely Planet will immediately click "NOT HELPFUL" to avenge this comment, I am sorry if this reviews disappoints you, but one has to be honest, right?

   Yes, I admit I am not the greatest fan of Lonely Planet - although I recognize there are destinations where no-one does the trick better than this cheap-and-nasty house of publishing. In Africa, for example, Lonely Planet was the best guide available. But Venice, this magical and charming little patch of magic in the Adriatic? This guide is a joke, but I am not laughing.

   The book is more concerned with righting the world than with doing its job. Do you want to read more of the same moans about evils of international tourism and how irresponsible travellers are ruining the world? If the answer is yes, go buy this book. It will certainly accomplish the mission of ruining all the enjoyment of travel to one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

   However, if you need a travel guide, not a campaign newsletter, you will be better off with another book. A book which might tell you that all the tourist crowds in Venice occupy perhaps five percent of the city's territory, while the rest is the real Venice with people getting on with their lives, buying groceries in small shops and hanging their washing outside, Italian-style. Another book may show you how charming, how crazily enchanting and breathtakingly delicate this city is.

   Maybe with another book you will realize that all the alarmist moans about Venice which will die in five/ten/fifteen years unless tourism is banned are just another shameless exagerrations, concocted by scaremongers and killjoys.

   Writing is excessively dry and is difficult to follow or enjoy. I find it hard to believe that a reviewer was pleased with maps - they are just sad and amateurish, worse than anything that I have seen in my life, aside from Lonely Planet Iceland and Greenland, which is and probably will be the world champion of poor mapping.

   This guide is not a match for Eyewitness or Fodor's, it does not even come close to being a good guidebook. Do yourself a favor - buy something else.




2. The 3 reviews earlier refers to the older version of this guide. Lonely Planet has recently started to revamp all their guides and I have the new Rome, Florence & Venice. They are absolutely flawless. I will focus on Venice here (Rome & Florence has the same format as well). You will have an Introduction to Venice, City Life, Art & Architecture, History, Food (as Italy was united in 1870, every region has their specialties) Shopping recommendations, extended accomodation listings from 5 star to budget. Excursions to Verona (home to the great Italian dry red Amarone), Padua etc., color map section, entertainment, directory of transportation and practicalities, walking tours in each sestieri etc. Everything is grouped in their respective sestieri (old municipal divisions) for ease.

   As Venice is broken down into 6 sestieri (or old municipal divisions), you will have 6 recommended walking tours in each sestieri accompanied with maps. Walking tours range from 2.5km to 9 km (1 mile = 1.609km) ... absolutely awesome ... Special and/or useful interesting reads in color boxes ... Top 5 recommendations for small charming hotels, hotel gardens, luxury hotels, museums, galleries, books, cds, films, activities for children, meat restaurants, gelato shops, pastry shops, foreign eats (if you ever get tired of eating Italian), cafes, drinking establishments, shopping areas, craft shops & shops for Kids. Top 10 notable buildings. Top 5 quirky events. Commentaries on important sites, churches, artwork etc. Floorplan of Basilica di San Marco. Information on tickets, opening/closing times.

   The directory is very useful with URLs, email and tel. nos. and recommended transportation tickets. Notes on special museum and church tickets. Recommended walking/vaporetto tours to take.

   Highly recommended ... made planning sooo easy!




3. Although this guide book did have useful information and was small and easy to carry, I thought our Eyewitness Venice travel guide was much better. The Lonely Planet descriptions seemed to tell me about everything that was going badly in Venice and focused very little on the beautiful and positive side of the city. I would recommend checking out the Eyewitness book instead.



4. Book was brand new. Can't wait to take it on vacation with me.



5. I bought this book because I was traveling to Italy with a tour group, but wanted to get out on my own. I've had good experience with other Lonely Planet travel guides for Libya and Mauritius (not your usual tourist areas). I bought the guide to Italy as whole, then a city guide for Venice so that I would have more detailed information and less weight to carry.
   
   First of all, about 40 pages of the book is wasted because it repeats the standard information provided elsewhere -- the stuff about women travelers, gay and lesbian travelers, etc. And when you are in Venice, a city where *you HAVE to walk* every ounce saved counts!
   
   The walking tour guides were good - gave me an idea about how to shape the track of a day of touring. The disadvantage was that when I wanted to look up something specific, I had to go to the index, find the page for the walking tour where the place was, to get information. And if I forgot to dog ear the page, it was back to the index, since the sites (or sights) aren't in the guide in a logical order. However once a site was located, the information was spot-on -- particularly is opening and closing times, since many places close for lunch. Knowing which ones do, can help you plan your visits for the day.
   
   I give the book a plus for providing reviews/comments on hotels, dining, and shopping. One can quibble with selections - the hotel I stayed in, the Gabrielli Sandwirth is just a canal away from Londra Palace and Hotel Danieli, with similiar accommodations wasn't mentioned in the guide - but I think the book gives one a good idea of what to expect in terms of price and availability for a wide variety of dining, shopping, and sleeping.
   
   I too, found the vaporetto guide confusing, but then the Vaporetto website wasn't any better. Usually the hotel concierge can explain it to you, or if you ride it a couple of times, you'll get the hang of it.
   
   Finally, yes, one should read the guide thoroughly before you arrive in Venice (and that doesn't mean on the plane to Europe, either...) But, humans are failible. This was a great guide to skim through before I went, it was a helpful guide (mostly) to use while I was there, and it's also a good guide for when I returned, because it helped me identify some things I saw while I was there and didn't realize it.