My family and I visited Italy for two weeks, and this travel guide was priceless. I borrowed it from a friend (his 1998 version) and had to purchase a more recent version from Amazon as soon as I got back.
DK Publishing has reasonables prices, and the delivery time is fast. Very fast. The book arrived in brand new condition, and I noticed that our hotel in Rome 'The Lancelot' is now listed in the directory of places to stay in Rome. There is so much information in this travel guide. Each tourist sight description is short and sweet and to the point. No pages and pages of details that might otherwise put you to sleep, as other tour books can do. And the pictures are just as wonderful. Looking at them again now that we've been back, is even more fun. They do a great job, and this seller is very good. I'll buy from them again. Ciao!

A friend of mine recommended this book to me for our upcoming honeymoon to Italy. This book has been so helpful in planning every aspect of our honeymoon, from where to stay, to eat and to see. The street by street maps are going to be very useful when we get to Italy.

The Eyewitenss Travel Guides are great if you want to learn more about another country and its culture.
I read the one on Great Britain and thoroughly enjoyed it. This one on "Italy," seems to be just as good.
I have not used the Eyewitness Guides to plan a trip so I'm not sure how helpful they are for that.
The book is filed with maps, colorful photos and fascinating tidbits (historical and contemporary) of information.
Makes a good gift for those who love Italy and want to learn more about it.

This is a great guide for finding out what you 'need' to see in Italy, and what would be 'nice' to see. Reason being, this guide leaves little to discovery and includes a picture of just about every major attraction in Italy. It is arranged nicely and includes the major regions. It isn't big on detail or writing, but that isn't why you purchase an 'eyewitness' guide! Reccomended as your first guide to consult if contemplating an Italy trip. If you need more detail, start looking at the guides specific to the regions that interest you (Frommer's, Lonely Planet etc.)

I have ordered the Eyewitness Travel books for the past 4 years for trips to Ireland, New Zealand, Russia and Greece and have been really satisfied with the illustrations and information presented. However, I've not been as impressed with this volume on Italy. A friend that is traveling with me purchased the Rick Steves' Italy 2008 book and it has much better information and walking guides. Also, that book is lighter! Although it doesn't have all of the glossy pictures of the Eyewitness Travel Italy book, the hints that are provided in Steves' book are much more useful to take with you when you plan to travel across Italy.

DK travel guides (Eyewitness brand) are known for its unique photograpy and pictures. They are printed full-color and magazine-style and the sublime pictures get supreme treatment. The maps are not ideal, but they do the job for some one new to Italy and answers the question of what to see and where to go with a little history and background tossed in. The maps will get you from Florence's Pitti Palace across the River Arno and to the Galleria to see Michelangelo's David, but good luck finding that little bistro in the cobblestone alley. This is a guide for the county of Italy in general and its regions and may lack some depth in terms of detail but for the first and even second time visitor to Italy its great considering its relative small weight and size in your travel case or backpack. Don't expect this guidebook to have that out-of-the-way gallery, or even the celebrated gelato shop directions. This little book covers the most important sites in any given city or region - with lush pictures that DK is known for and short blurbs to match. It also covers general information to the first time visitor covering money, agencies, other basic travel information which can be of great help to some one not famliar to Italy.

Great guide with tons of valuable information. Just returned home from a 2 week vacation covering several cities in Italy and this guide helped us appreciate everything we were seeing by giving an explanation and history about everything. The maps are great and it was nice having advice on good restaurants to choose.

The Good:
- Beautiful pictures, drawings and maps highlight all the major attractions in Italy

- Book is organized by region, and is relatively easy to follow along

- Loaded with interesting facts about Italy, each region and each main attraction. This includes history, tips and useful facts.

- Nice touchs like 2 pages of common Italian words/phrases, breakdowns on everything from how to read a road sign to the Euro currency.

The Bad:
- Cumbersome to read - reads like a text book

- Hotel recommendations are difficult to use. Not a big deal, because I prefer Trip Advisor for my hotel recommendations anyways.

- Limited info on where to eat

- Limited "candid" info on where to go, what is worth your time and what isn't. I've read Rick Steve's website, and I like how he tells you candidly what you should see in Italy given X number of days. That is helpful and is missing from this book.

The Verdict:
Loaded with useful info and beautiful images, this book will prove a good resource while on your trip; however, don't count on this book to help you fully plan your trip. It will give you some ideas to get started, but for finalizing trip details, I'd recommended reading Rick Steve's website, Trip Advisor, etc.

I must say that this guide was exactly what I needed, but also I must confess that another thing came up since I have been traveling to Europe for some time now. I didn't realize or wasn't even thinking about travel insurance?? I mean we all have insurance, that covers us while we are in the US, but not for traveling abroad. I recently planned a second trip to Germany, but wasn't sure if my insurance company policy would take care of minor details in my policy for things I am not sure I have thought about. I am not saying I might or might not be covered, but I need peace of mind when it comes to my family. I then called my HR to find out general things about traveling abroad and "What would happen if" scenario's. I wasn't going to read my lengthy policy, even if I did I wouldn't understand the legal double-talk anyway not being a lawyer and all.

My HR told me everything would be ok, and I shouldn't worry. But some thing in the back of my mind said call again and asked the same questions to see if the results would be the same from another Representative, to my surprise, it was. Ok then, not feeling a warm feeling of confidence in my HR responses. I didn't have much time to keep doing the research, so I looked up travel insurance and started to focus my attention on getting some basic package to cover me and family while we were abroad. There are a lot to choose from, but again this became confusing. So I came across www.securemytravelonline.com which had an aggregate of different well known insurance companies. I choose AIG with a basic plan and the rest was history. Also I didn't know you can insure your travel and luggage also in case of theft, flight cancellation etc. I thought I would share something from one avid traveler to the next. Overall a GREAT Guide and I have bought another copy for my friend.

Take care.
Carl>

Want a good, fast easy read to learn about the top wineries and wines from each region in Italy in 140 pages or so? This is the book for you.

Vincent Gasnier is a talented sommelier with a knack for writing about wines in a very interesting and compelling manner, making for great reading. He's written a series of 4 brief, but informative overview books, covering the top wines from France, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, and the United States. All are easy reading, ideal for reading in short bursts of time as well as informative and enjoyable.

This book on Italian wines offers a brief historical overview of wines from all of Italy's diverse regions. Then, it presents a brief section on each region, including a general description of the region, the winemakers, wineries and top wines.

The top 10 lists can take the form of multiple lists such as Top Brilliant Barolos and Barbarescos, Top 10 Fine Italian Reds, Top 10 Fabulous Italian Whites, Top 10 Great Italian Wine Houses, Top 10 Magnificent Italian Sparkling Wines, Italy's Greatest Celebration Wines, Top 10 Super Tuscans, Top 10 Best Kept Secrets in Italian Wines, and many others in addition to the Top 10 wines in each region.

It also features brief (2 to 4 page) sections on Wine and Food Matching, Buying and Storing Wine, Wine Tasting, and one on Wines Styles, a popular approach gaining in usage that breaks wines into category profiles. For example, white wines are classified into the following categories: 1). Crisp dry light bodied; aromatic to flowery, dry to medium-sweet; tangy or steely medium bodied; and full-bodied, rich flavored. Grapes typically make wines in one of these categories (although chardonnay grapes, for example, may overlap two categories depending on the winemaking style employed). Generally someone who likes a certain style of wine might appreciate the appeal of other grapes making wines in this same style or category. This section also lists the Italian wines that would apply to each of these categories.

I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking a basic overview of Italian wines. The author has a nice ability to explore a topic briefly, yet still provide valuable information. Gasnier is one of my favorite wine authors. If there were an award for adequately conveying a useful overview of Italian wines - along with wine information in general - in the least number of pages, Gasnier would surely win it. When one considers the breath of Italian wines and regions, that the author was able to effectively convey an overview in this size book amounts to an incredible feat, but he achieves it. I am pretty knowledgeable about wine and still found this book very well done and interesting. Highly recommended, as is the entire 4 book series.

Mark Vincent

I love this book. My husband is stationed in Italy. We have been living here for 2 years now & this is my favorite travel book. Our 4 year old loves looking at the pictures while I read to him. It make our trips that much better when he is excited to see the sights as well. It's quick & easy to look up what you want & has great info. I would recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to Italy. However, if you are only going to visit one or two places a more specific book may be need.

I love the eyewitness tour guides. They are the best tour guides out there. They make preparing for travel fun and interesting. There is a picture of almost everything!

This book is the best in it's class. What differentiates this book from other offerings is the excellent accompanying photos, illustrations and sidebar topics. Even the the glossy paper helps contribute to it's feel of quality ... but that also makes it a heavy little book (~1kg)- something to consider if you are travelling light.

We used this book everyday of our 14 day stay in all parts of Italy. It is a must have book for a trip to Italy.

Initially I found this book dificult and confusing to use as its layout and design are different from conventional guidebooks. However, after using it for a few days while in Italy I became accustomed to it. It has good historic information on all the sights and touristic destinations so it was ideal for doing tours of Florence and Rome when I was there. The maps were excellent and helped me find my way around. The one thing that this guidebook lacks is tips on shopping and more details on 'how to get there'. In conclusion, I would buy another Eyewitness Travel, however, I would give myself a few days to familiarise myself with it before leaving!!

This is a great travel book. I just got back from a week vacation to Rome. I got this as a gift and if I had my choice, I would have gotten the guide for Rome alone. However, this book still had a great deal of detail and helped me plan my trip. The pictures are beautiful and only served to heighten my enthusiasm to go. What really made the book great was the background information about the sites. I enjoyed site seeing so much more knowing the history and importance of the sites. The book also gives recommendations for places to stay and eat and a survival guide for your travels in Italy. I was impressed by the DK Eyewitness Travel series and will look for it on my next trip.

Very good for traveling through Italy. We stayed in 5 different cities over 10 days. We looked at this book every day to help us decide what we wanted to do in each city.

I have bought or borrowed several Eyewitness Travel Guides in the past several years, and have carried them all over Europe. They are a bit heavyweight, but I enjoy reading them berfore, during, and after the visit. The graphics are great and the layout is logical.

Great book for preparing for a trip. It's a bit heavy so I wouldn't carry it around while touring but otherwise ok.

I have orderd several travel guides and this is the BEST! "DK Eyewitness Travel" guides are always amazing. It has everything I was looking for with maps, colorful photos, great historical lessons, bus and tram routes, color coded sections, shopping suggestions, survival guide, and much more. MOST TRAVEL GUIDES ONLY HAVE SMALL BORING WRITING PIECES.... this one was amazing with details that were interesting and visual effects that made me want to visit each part of Italy!

I always buy the Eyewitness Travel Guides for planning my trips. They are a great and user friendly source of information.

I've been a long-time Lonely Planet fan, believing that text was fine. Why would I need pictures, since I was going to see the places in person anyway? I have since changed my mind completely!

We just returned from a 10-day trip to Italy (mostly Florence and Rome), and I have to say that I absolutely LOVED having this book along. When we went shopping for a guidebook, my husband picked this up and I went straight for the Lonely Planet. I resisted the Eyewitness guide, and we ended up splurging and just buying both. This ended up giving us an entire trip to compare them.

It's true that it didn't list a ton of places to see in each, but we didn't really feel the book was too lacking. If we had known our itinerary when we went book shopping, we probably would have picked up Florence/Tuscany and Rome instead of the complete Italy, but this did help us choose our final destinations. One thing we really liked in the listings was the "Star Sight" marks. With the Lonely Planet books, the hardest part is trying to pick out which of the sights are really worth seeing and which are only so-so. In the Eyewitness book, not only did we have the Stars to guide us, but we also had the pictures to give us an idea if something was going to match our tastes or not.

By far, the best thing about this book was the information about the sights. I got so much more out of the trip by learning about the places we visited while we were there. From the food to the architecture to the history, it was so much more interesting. The clinching comparison between our two guides was the Roman Forum. The Eyewitness book had a sketch showing the layout of the forum with variou areas labelled with a brief description. A more detailed explanation of the various sites appeared on the following page. In contrast, our Lonely Planet tried despearately to explain the locations in prose ("to your left upon entering from this street..." and "across from that stands the remains of..."), and in the end, the only description they gave of each structure/area was its name! I really enjoyed having some background on what the places were and why they were significant.

The only downside of the book is in planning the logistics. There's not a lot of information on how to get from city to city (or airport to city), and the admission prices to museums and attractions are surprisingly absent. However, with the blossoming of online travel sites, a lot of this information is easily available from other sources.

The city maps were a little confusing when crossing from one map to the next (I don't think there's any overlap), but I appreciated having the sights labelled even when they weren't described in the listings. As we walked past a large church or government building, it was nice to be able to see what it was. The color coding of points of interest was good for walking, since we could tailor our route to pass by more interesting spots.

We didn't use the hotel listings, since I researched our hotels online, but we did take advantage of a few restaurant suggestions. There aren't a lot of budget listings, but the ones we tried were fantastic! Off the beaten path, we never would have found them otherwise, and we appreciated having budget sit-down options. The budget listings in our other guide tended to list lunch spots and self-service eateries.

In general, I really think this book helped "make" our trip. The whole time, it was like having a guide with us, pointing things out and explaining what was going on.

Excellent read, couldn't put it down. Now we can not wait to go!!

It is a complete wide-angle picture of Italy in just one book. Not too heavy, it provides the tourist who travels all over Italy with useful information. The beautiful pictures attract your attention and you become actually curious to see the Italian architectural masterpieces or just a picturesque corner house from life.

It is a complete wide-angle picture of Italy in just one book. Not too heavy, it provides the tourist who travels all over Italy with useful information. The beautiful pictures attract your attention and you become actually curious to see the Italian architectural masterpieces or just a picturesque corner house from life.

Overall this book fell a bit short of my expectations.
The pictures are nice because it puts a face to the description, but even for a book covering an entire country it felt a little anemic.
Even large cities like Roma, Florence, etc. covered only major items, not even a few unique/unusual suggestions.
This book is alright as a decent start and it's certainly visually appealing but I find other books to be more thorough & useful. Forget the pictures and just get a better book (Frommers, Lets Go, Cadogan, & Unofficial Guides are all solid) and add in a little internet research to see what the lesser known areas look like.

It's the greatest book ever when you travel to Italy!!!
Especially for the people who are planned to start living in Italy.

I found this book useful for helping me target in on the areas I'd be most interested in visiting. Perusing the overview maps and many little photos of the attractions quickly gives you an idea what to expect in each region. It's a great starting point for planning your vacation to Italy. It has all the contact info you need to further track down or get specific information on hotels/attractions.
Once you look thru the book and have an idea on the specific regions you want to visit I'd suggest getting a book just targeted in on that region as you'll get more detailed information on the hotels/restaurants/attractions in that area that way. This book as to not be thousands of pages just briefly describes attractions and as for hotels/restaurants it mostly just gives you a star rating. If you want to do leg work yourself though it may be all you need as it does provide web links and phone numbers where you can get more details on each.

I have used these DK companions to traveling before. Just as the rest, this guide to Italy is excellent in many ways, i.e.,excellent pictures, easy to read, to follow. It will prepare you greatly for your trip in terms of what to see, and the historical facts about the sites visited. Once your trip to Italy has been completed, it will become a resource for many memories. There is no need for any other travel guide for future trips!

Traveling without doing any research is a recipe for sub-par trips and missing many things that you would want to see if only you knew where to look. The problem with most travel guides, though, is that they are great sources of information on hotels, restaurants, and other attractions but they have few pictures if any. Yet, when you travel to a place such as Italy, there are many locales that have great visual appeal. How can you possibly select or prioritize among them without seeing pictures?

This is where the Eyewitness Travel Guides come in handy. This guide provides a fairly comprehensive package of details about hotels etc., but it also has many beautiful photos to help you see which sights are most worth visiting. The book is an excellent guide and can definitely help you decide what you want to see while visiting Italy.

After looking at several other travel books, I kept going back to this one. It is full of color and interesting facts. Great ideas of places to stay and comprehensive information on currency and traveling tips. The book makes me more excited about my trip each time I read it.

This is one of the best travel books I've read. Every page has well laid out and well labeled full color pictures to augment the text. Once you look at this it's hard to go back to a dry, sterile book that's all text with a handful of color pages in the middle. The information here is clear and easy to read. There is cross-referencing everywhere, for example a page that's describing a major attraction will tell you where to go in the book to find hotels in that area. There are listings and descriptions for hotels and restaurants in each area, and general travel tips. The introduction to each area of Italy also has an overview of the history and architecture.