Rick Steves Italy

This was a very useful book for us former backpacker Boomers but Covid made a lot of info obsolete, even from this 2020 edition. Since we've graduated from the Lonely Planet crowd ("Ride-with-your-luggage-on-the-top-of-a-bus-with-local-peasants-and-goats-and-then-check-into-a-Youth-Hostel") (been there, done that) but still are not willing to do the Fodor's "carry-my-luggage-to-my-room-and-bring-us-two-martinis" style travel, this is a great book, with a lot of insights delivered with some good humor. It enables you to self-tour in a lot of places where you just want to go at your own pace. Rick Steve's offers a comprehensive self-tour system, and you can plug into his podcasts for supplemental as well as step-by-step walking tour information.We did find that - no fault of Rick Steves - but the pandemic has really made a lot of info obsolete, so anything that had to do with time schedules, routes, open days/closed days, etc., had to be verified by other means. In Italy, this was problematic, though, as information is often not available, or if available, hard to find, or if found, can be out of date, or if not out of date then subject to being changed at the last minute...Nonetheless, this is a solid guide and we will use these going forward. His specific city guides are a great supplement and are much lighter and easier to carry around.A word for the electronically-condescending. There are many alternatives to carrying a book around these days. However, none of them are as reliable, and, especially in Italy, and depending on your service plan, they can get quite expensive. And just because you have an app, doesn't mean you have reception. There is still no substitute to just instantly opening up to the page and reading about it. it doesn't require a local phone plan, doesn't use data, and doesn't require reception. And frankly, many of the websites are also out of date, as are the podcasts and other electronic media. Just because it's electronic, doesn't mean it's updated everyday! Or that the English translation is clear or makes sense. And many of the apps are problematic when you are using your phone in another country, constantly requiring you to verify your identity, enter your username and password... sheesh! I just want to find out what the name of this statue is!So, if you plan is to go "all-electronic" - well, good luck with that! A Rick Steve's guide should be your "Plan A."One piece of criticism though. Rick writes "Italian men don't wear shorts; only American tourists do."BULL-ONEY! While I was suffering from incredible heat and humidity for the first week week we were in Italy last month by wearing long pants because of Rick's proscription, I noticed that actually a very large percentage of men were wearing shorts...which, according to Rick then, had to be Americans. But as we were virtually in the very first tiny group of American tourists back - we didn't meet or hear a single American anywhere for over 3 weeks - I wondered where all these hordes of must-be-American-tourists-becasue-they're-wearing-shorts were coming from... No, they were Italians! Italian men DO wear shorts, Rick, so revisit that advice, please! Fortunately, I dressed comfortably for the next several weeks...

Great for the first or second time Italy tourist - there is a lot to see in Italy and this book does a lovely job at that. Many destinations and areas of Italy are left out ...not even in the Index.

Background: I usually get one guide book for some of my trips and think nothing of trying others. Usually the most recent edition or I use Lonely Planet for more outdoor stuff. This trip to Italy is for my niece so I want to make it is awesome esp. in times of COVID. So I got both Steve’s and Fodor’s and there is a noticeable difference with the winner guide being Steve’s.Steve’s is more practical with know before you go info. Although things might change when you are there you have some insight to problem solve. Best info was on local custom hours, traps to look out for, various types of tour options, and public transportation information. He also provided a larger list of places to stay and eat then Fodor. Additional it’s structured in way I can go to the page I need and get all the info. Also, he doesn’t waste time telling you and showing you colored images of what you are going to see for yourself. Fodor was like a documentary on paper with the basic info to get you there.I will stick with Steve’s if I plan to go to major cities from now on!

I was Surprised about how detailed this book was. Planning my first trip to Italy, and was unsure on train transportation etc. Rick was able to guide me through all of this in very good detail. I had bought A different book at the same time I bought this one but decided to return the other one due to the amount of detail in this book. This book is a must have for your Italy vacation.

If you are spending 100s or 1000s to travel to Europe, it's a shame to forget a high-quality guidebook. My suggestion? Buy TWO (or one for Kindle, and one paper). Why? Because you'll want to tear the book apart in sections so that you can easily take it with you to various locations in the guidebook, and you'll want another for referencing the parts you didn't take with you! RS is a wonderful institution going on 40 years. There is always the RS website for reference, but there's nothing like having the information in your pocket with your notes and highlighted areas.

Ordered this travel book, and once again Rick Steves does not disappointment. It gives information on all of the major sites and the smaller ones as well. I knew nothing of travel in Italy and feel very well informed for my trip now.

We recently came back from 3 weeks in Italy and found this book to be so helpful. We tore it into sections (Rick Steves advises you to do this) and took it with us everywhere. Most all the suggestions were spot on. Even in Oct-Nov it was crowded but manageable and Rome was hot. Covid-19 restrictions limited entrances so plan carefully and make reservations ahead as mentioned in the book. Avoid going in the summer if possible.We have used his guides for all our travels. Great resource.

This book saved us a lot of money and headaches. We traveled to Venice, Florence, and Rome. We were so luck to have this book because people were not helpful. But this book got us through the airport, on the trains, and taxis. Had we not read the book we would of not known about the scams abroad. Trust me because this book alerted us to common scams we caught a lot of merchants and cabbies trying to rip us off. The restaurant suggestions were on point. Best restaurants we went to were book recommendations the worst ones were our choice by following the crowds.

This guide is really fun to search in. You look by city and you have even a little map of the place. He tell you all the good informations you should know. He gives many little tricks to save money. I love this guide.

A perfect guide to Italy