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Italian Guidebooks

by Philip Greenspun; created 1995

You can't go far wrong with the old standards: Michelin green and Michelin red . The red guide reliably rates almost all the quality hotels and restaurants in the country. If you are on a student budget, though, you'll find that you probably can't afford any of the establishments listed (the cheapest hotels listed in Rome are about $90/night for a double room).

Michelin publishes two green guides for Italy, one covering the whole country and one just for Rome . If you're planning a driving tour, the country guide is invaluable for its suggested itineraries. The rest of the guide is organized alphabetically, which is very efficient if you're passing through a small town and want to know quickly what its most famous sights are.

The Eyewitness Travel Guides, currently available for Rome , Florence , Venice , and Italy overall were the ones that I put in my photo vest when I was actually walking out for a day of sightseeing. These books have dozens of 3D maps that show you the layout of each district described. Because each building is rendered recognizably, these are much easier to follow than the schematic walking tour maps in other guides or the "turn left after three blocks" instructions you get in guides with less lavish art budgets. The Eyewitness guides also include a large section of recommended hotels, restaurants, shops, entertainment venues, and sports plus practical references and a reasonably good set of city maps. [An Italian friend of mine who had laughed at me during previous trips for my devoted attention to the Michelin guide handled the Eyewitness guide to Rome for a few minutes and then said "You are making me a present of this when you leave."]

If you find the Michelin and the Eyewitness guides rather soulless, then you'll appreciate the Cadogan guides written by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls. Cadogan can help you decide whether or not you're going to like a place in advance: "Florence is a museum city, and if you don't care to look at pictures, you'd do better to just stay on the train." Facaros and Pauls pick out quirkier details than other authors, e.g., "Almost all of the construction work [on the Colosseum], under Vespasian and Titus, was performed by Jewish slaves, brought here for the purpose after the suppression of their revolt." Despite some well-drawn black & white maps, the Cadogan guide often feels hopelessly outgunned by its color-printed cousins from Michelin and Eyewitness. Here are your options:

Whatever you do, avoid the Let's Go guides. You're in a country with 3000 years of history and you're going to learn about it from a college sophomore? I don't think so. The Let's Go guides do have listings of cheap hotels and restaurants, but you could get that yourself by walking into each city's tourist office and asking for a list of the city's crummiest establishments.

My friends who are classics scholars tend to like the English Blue Guide, which are the most erudite and tell you who did each little painting in each corner of each church, but to really get much out of these, you need to dedicate 30 minutes every night to read up on what you're planning to see the next day. Here are some options in Blue Guides:

Wheelchair Accessibility

The Michelin Red Guide and the Eyewitness guides flag hotels that are wheelchair-accessible. The Eyewitness guides flag wheelchair-accessible sites with in-line symbols. In the Michelin Green guide, you'll have to dig around in the opening hours/prices section in the back of the book.

Readers' Comments


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Stavros Macrakis , October 20, 1997; 10:20 P.M.

Greenspun and I apparently have some shared tics ("Guidebooks: I bought them all so you don't have to"). A few years ago, I put together a comparison chart of the various guides to Italy. Alas, it is probably moldering on an unreadable 7-track 800bpi tape somewhere. I still travel in Italy a fair amount, though, and I even remember some of the guidebooks.

Despite our shared tics, I do not agree at all that Michelin Red is a reliable guide to "all the quality hotels and restaurants" in Italy (in France, it's another matter). For hotels, it's pretty good, although it really has no nose for charm and bucolic comfort, and as Philg says, certainly doesn't cover cheap places. It is for restaurants where it really falls down. It loves fancy places with high prices (both the "palace" style and the pseudo-rustic tourist trap style), but doesn't help at all in finding small, good, and inexpensive places. In principle, that's what the Red R places are (red P(asto) in Italy? I forget). But they don't find many.

I used to like the Veronelli restaurant guide, which both understood good Italian cooking far better than the Michelin and also had a personal touch, but it has become fat and standard now, too.

Another problem with all the Michelin red guides is that they class every restaurant as 0-3 stars, 1-5 forks (and in large cities add some cryptic comment like "ristorante di habitues"; what does that mean? that you don't eat well if they don't know you? that you can't get a table? that you have to know what to ask for even though it's not on the menu?). Not very helpful.

On the other hand, the Michelin Red has highly legible automobile-oriented city maps. One ways are clearly indicated, main roads are distinguished from minor roads, etc. These aren't the maps to use to find arbitrary addresses, but for the main sights, listed hotels and restaurants, and ways in and out of big cities, they're the best around.

The Green guide to Italy is a bit of a joke. France is covered by something like 15 guides, many of which need to stretch to fill their allotted lengths. Italy, with a far higher density of interesting places, is packed into one double-length Green guide. The main strength of the Green guide is its clear (although often questionable) guidance as to the relative importance of different things -- the famous "worth a trip", "worth a detour", and "interesting". Along the lines of the Green guide (quick and easy to use), I much prefer the TCI's Guida Rapida d'Italia (five brown volumes). It also has city maps which are graphically superior to the Red guide's, although perhaps slightly less functional for the motorist.

A completely different kind of guidebook is for the dedicated shopper, and there are certainly many things to buy in Italy, and even many things worth buying. Fielding's is the social climbing jet-set prototype ("When I'm in Como, I always stop in at my old friend Count Aldo Salecrotto's charming boutique, the only place I have ever found first-quality hand-knitted silk earmuffs west of Peiping--Aldo's distant ancestor Marco Polo actually introduced silkworms to China many centuries ago. Five hundred dollars may seem steep for these charming accessories (who would actually use them outside!?!), but I know that Jackie O treasured the pair I gave her in Cannes so many years ago.") Despite the grating tone, there are actually some useful recommendations. It turns out, for instance, that you can actually buy excellent-quality leather gloves in Florence for only a small multiple of the "bargains" you can buy in street markets.

Much more concise and matter-of-fact, but at least as complete and up-to-date, are the pocket-wine-guide format city guides ("American Express Guide to Rome" etc.). I don't remember what they're called these days, or who publishes them, and for that matter if they're still in print. These actually were quite up-to-date and tasteful not only on shopping but also on restaurants, an honorable exception to the otherwise reliable rule that mass-market guides to Italian restaurants are useless except for the ones written in Italy for Italians.

PhilG trashes the Let's Go. I certainly agree that they're the last place to go for lessons on history, gastronomy, or anything else serious. On the other hand, I've found them pretty reliable for cheap accomodations and public transportation. True, you could get the listings of cheap hotels from the tourist offices, but I'd rather call ahead for a room from the previous town than spend my first half-day scurrying from unfindable tourist office (sorry, this location closed on weekday mornings) to unbearable cheap hotel (trolley cars outside a street-level room bother you?).

The Blue Guide does _not_ "tell you who did each little painting in each corner of each church". Only most paintings in most churches. After all, they cover the whole country in only five fat paperbacks (Northern, Southern, Rome, Florence, Venice, if I remember correctly). If you really want the details, you need to go to the TCI's Red guide series (something like 30 thick, small-format, bible-paper hardbacks cover the country). Erudite introductory essays, complete bibliographies, massive indexes, cute folding maps in the back flap. The revision cycle is a bit long, so you'll still need a more practical guide for such things as opening hours, highways, and accomodations.

Philg mentions wheelchair accessibility. Most of these guides have special notations for their particular interests. Let's Go carefully analyzes the orientation of night spots ("where Mt. Holyoke meets Radcliffe"; "don't forget your Gucci's"; "you have to try hard to leave alone"). Veronelli informs you of the origins of olive oil used in each restaurant as well as the completeness of the selection of eaux-de-vie. Michelin lets you know whether dogs are welcomed in restaurants. Perhaps not as socially conscious as wheelchair accessibility, but no doubt crucial for some readers.

I could go on, but I've spent far too much time writing this message already (and you've spent far too much time reading it). So that's all for now.

-s

macrakis@alum.mit.edu

John -- , June 08, 1998; 07:22 P.M.

I found the Michelin Green "Rome" a useful supplement, especially its in-depth description of Capitoline Hill, the Forum, etc.

I ended up making my Hotel Reservations mostly with Frommer's Italy $50 a day (which is a joke). The budget accomodations were just what I wanted (clean, quiet and safe), and the restaurants listed were all excellent. In fact, some Italians I worked with for a week in Florence recommended restaurants that were in that guide.

I doubt one book will do it all, but I'm the sort who buys about 4 books and spends a month reading about where I'm going.

Miranda Mowbray , July 07, 1998; 01:30 P.M.

This comment is about gastronomic guides, rather than guidebooks in general.

The best guidebook to restaurants in Italy is the Gambero Rosso guide. Unfortunately I think it may be only published in Italian, but even if you know no Italian at all you can work out the address, average price, and telephone number of each listed restaurant. It concentrates on the high end, but also lists some cheap restaurants which provide especially good quality for price. I've never been let down by the Gambero Rosso guide, and I've had some of the best meals of my life as a result of its recommendations.

The Michelin Red Guide seems to go for the more formal and the more tourist-oriented restaurants. I spent long enough in Pisa to try a large number of the restaurants there, (oh boy that was fun) and the ones Michelin recommended were nice, but there was very often a cheaper non-Michelin one a couple of streets away with even better food and a cozier atmosphere. Let's Go will tell you the cheapest eaterie near to the tourist centre of the town. This is usually the place with the worst food. It's really quite difficult to find bad food in some parts of Italy, but Let's Go seems particularly skilled at this. (I'm not as anti-Let's-Go in general as Phil is, though, its practical info is useful and it's not as dry as some of the more serious guidebooks.)

A general tourist rule in Italy is that it's always worth asking the locals. Italians tend to have an emotional attachment to their home town and everything that makes it special. Each italian town has its own local cuisine, and the inhabitants will usually be delighted to tell you what the most typical dishes are, and where to eat them. (You can also ask what are the special features of the local dialect, the local festivals and the history behind them, the proverbs of this town, and so on; the answers can be very interesting. If you're a woman travelling alone, think about asking a woman rather than a man for local information - some italian men can be altogether too enthusiastic about showing you the delights of their town.)

I first fell in love with Italy at the age of seven, when I first tasted real italian icecream. It may have the same effect on you. There's a simple rule in choosing an icecream shop: make sure the shop sells "gelati artiginali", ie. icecream which is not mass-produced.

If you can't decide what to order in a smart restaurant in Italy, and you don't have any dietary restrictions, tell them that you'd like a meal to remember and you'll leave the choice of food to them. I've done this several times and the result has always been wonderful, and they didn't just give me the most expensive dishes on the menu.

If you'd like to try out some recipes at home and you understand enough Italian to follow a recipe, the soc.culture.italian cookbook is at http://www.citinv.it/sociale/cookbook/ . Buon Appetito, Miranda.

Steve Lemke , December 28, 1998; 09:12 P.M.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Rick Steve's books (Europe Through the Back Door). My wife and I found his books absolutely incredible on our honeymoon in Austria and Europe, and again on a recent trip to Paris. His style seems to match ours, and having a book that tells us what not to bother with, as well as how to make the most of our limited time, was very helpful... Restaurant and lodging tips were great, too.

Javed Akhtar , December 06, 1999; 07:38 P.M.

I disagree with Phil's comment about Let's Go. Some of us college sophomores happen to know quite a bit about the world of travel. If you're a student travelling on a shoestring budget, Let's Go is, bar none, the best source of information. Yes, the places to eat and sleep are cheap, but I don't travel so I can eat and sleep. I travel so I can learn about different cultures, languages, and ultimately, myself. Let's Go caters specifically to the student backpacker. When I travel, I stay exclusively in hostels (sometimed for as little as $3/night!), and I buy most of my food from markets and cook it up myself or with fellow backpackers in the hostel kitchen. If I eat out, I usually follow the Let's Go recommendations, and I never fail to end up in a restaurant with lots of local atmosphere. The restaurants listed in Let's Go are where the locals eat, not yuppie tourists who are merely treated like a part of the local economy.

Kevin DeRoos , April 09, 2000; 09:26 P.M.

I have to agree with Steve L. regarding Rick Steve's travel books. My wife and I spent two weeks in Italy last May and found it to be the most useful of the books we took.

We packed along Fodor's, Frommer's and Eye Witness guides as well but found they stayed in our suitcases most of the time. The Rick Steve's books were written with an eye towards experiencing the most of Italy without spending the most. Take it and leave the rest at home.

John Duma , April 23, 2000; 11:29 P.M.

The worst part of the Let's Go guides is not that they are written by college students (who could, after all, be well-travelled and literate), but that they do not meet their claims of thorough research. I brought their Germany guide to Munich in 1994, and found that they were completely wrong on museum times and admission costs. All of this information was given in a brochure "Museem in Munchen," available at all of the city's museums (for free, even). Though the brochure was in German, it seemed easy enough to understand (schedules make sense even when the word Zeit does not). The brochure was several years old, and so I have to conclude that the entry for Munich in Let's Go, if it were ever accurate, was several years out of date.

And, with all this said, don't get me started about what Let's Go said about changing money in Italy in 1988.

Luke Swartz , August 23, 2000; 12:50 P.M.

I'd also like to put in a plug for the Rick Steves books. In particular, I found his book on Rome to be invaluable on my recent visit: he dispenses with all the pretty pictures found in most guidebooks (the Eyewitness series being the worst offender in this category...I find that the pictures merely make them heavy without adding to their utility when you actually get to the country; after all, if you want pictures of the sites, take them yourself!) and he tells you precisely what you want/need to know in a very humorous fashion. For example, his chapter on the Vatican museums leads you, almost turn-by-turn, through the most interesting and important pieces of the rather daunting collection, knowing that the average traveller needs to save physical and aesthetic energy for the "long march" to the Sistine Chapel. An example of his humor (I'm paraphrasing a bit): "Trajan's Column was erected by Emperor Trajan, who finished conquering much of the known world, returned to Rome with his booty, and shook it all over the city." In short, the Steves book is like having a witty, empathetic travel guide; the other books seem stuffy by comparison, even if exaustively complete.

One caveat, however: Steves' Rome guidebook has somewhat cartoony maps which are great for getting the "big picture" but which are pretty much useless when you're in the middle of nowhere trying to find what street you're on. Thus, get a good map (the free Jubilee map available in the Termini train station was great for this) in addition to the book.

Bill O'Neil , June 10, 2001; 03:08 P.M.

Before leaving for our Italy trip I had some uninvited bacteria that set up camp in my lungs and after ten days I decided to evict them and be well for the rest of my trip. I had heard antibiotics could be purchased over the counter in Europe. Swell. Let’s give it a try.

We walked into a Farmacia to greet a handsome Italian pharmacist. I asked him if he could sell me antibiotics. “Yes, some,” he responded as my wife and daughter drooled over him. He asked how long I had the lung infection. “This is day 10,” I responded as if to qualify myself. He pulled out some amoxicyillin and said to take four per day for a week. “Do you have Zithromax?” I asked. “Yes. Three pills for three days but it’s more expensive. 60,000 Lira,” he said cautiously. Hmmm, $30 to be well for the rest of the trip? I gave him the money as if purchasing cough drops and we left.

I felt slightly guilty for what would have been an illegal drug transaction in the U.S. but that soon went away with my healed lungs the next morning. When you catch a cold in the U.S., everyone gets a taste. A doctor visit and some insurance paperwork are always required. In Italy I just told the pharmacist what I wanted and that was it.

Mark Zanzig , June 25, 2001; 03:04 P.M.

Whatever you do, please avoid the Lonely Planet guide. I did a three week trip last year by car, and we had a very good (German) guidebook. After the trip, I just wanted to compare the German guide to the "praised" LP guide, and I have to admit that it is not deep enough. Some of the areas that really need attention, like Cinque Terre (which is a MUST) are just mentioned on 1.5 pages. Some cool villages are not even mentioned (like Bagolino, for example). Also, they are very focused on the US view of things. Just one example: The authors take a half page (that is 33% of what they dedicated to Cinque Terre) to the problem of theft. Yes, it may be a problem, but it is not justified to spend that much space on the simple rule "watch out!". During our trip with our own new car, we slept in cheap hotels, in expensive hotels, and on camp sites. We never had the feeling of being surrounded by evil Italians...

Hope this helps.

PS: If you have some spare time, please visit http://www.zanzig.com/travel/ to see some of the travel photos from that trip. :-)

Bruce Dudzik , November 16, 2001; 08:08 P.M.

For traveling around Rome I found the Green Guide the most helpful in terms of "before the trip" reading to use for making a list of definite places to see. Once in Rome, my suggestion is to simply get a good map of Central Rome that will fit in a your pocket (or purse) and set off with the expectation that your best sightseeing will be accomplished during the many times you get lost. The photo opportunities in out-of-the-way piazza's and narrow roads will make up for the feeling of being lost. ONLY USE THE MAP AS A LAST RESORT.

You should make a point of a walking tour of the Giancolo and Pincio, both of which offer excellent views of the city (the Giancolo is a better view though more out of the way).

The best sources for places to eat are in Italian cookbooks! For example, Biba Gaggiano's book "Trattoria Cooking" lists addresses by city of each the trattoria's that she includes recipes for. Other Italian cookbooks offer similar listings of favorite places and most include some indication of price. I found each of the trattoria's that I went to from "Trattoria Cooking" to offer excellent food (three course meal with wine) in the range of $20-$35/person).

If there is one indispensable book to have with you it is "The Marling Menu-Master for Italy" (ISBN 0912818026 for which other volumes are also available for France, Germany, and Spain) which is a handy guide to dealing with menus and individual dishes - and it fits in your pocket!

Hope this will be of help.

Kathleen Reeve , January 27, 2003; 12:05 P.M.

The Let's Go Guides have taken me through Italy for 30 years. I'd rather stay longer with cheaper digs, and have gone to Italy six times from 18 days to, usually, a month at a time. Let's go is the most reliable for honest evaluation of budget housing and food. Most other guides are aimed at people who want to spend a lot more money for rooms and food. Fodor's or Fromm's and others may praise something good and fail to tell you the weaknesses. The rarely deal with such budget places as I am looking for.

Let's go lists the best place first and tells you the good and bad for each. I've stayed in some very unusual places in small towns from Let's Go but they were always an adventure and honestly described.

I’m planning another trip to Italy for a month in Venice and the Veneto, and the first book I bought was Let’s Go. What it will save you on housing and food, if you are on a budget, is worth the price of the book alone.

Let's Go is also great for all the practical information, transportation and orientation details they give. I cut up the books and take just the sections for the cities I'm going to visit. I don't look to them or any other one book as a complete guide.

As for other guide books, I order them all from my local library, compare them and then Xerox the sections from each for the places I'm going to visit. When I get to Padua for example I have an envelope with all the pages from several good books on Padua. I read them and them leave them in the hotel for the next person. My bags get lighter at every town, with more room for momentos.

As for errors, there is a big time lag from the time a reporter goes to Italy and the time you get the printed book in your hand, and a few things are bound to change. I don't rely on them or any one book as the final words. As my niece, who accompanied me on one of my trips said, "You have to ask three Italians before you are sure of an answer. Sometimes they are so eager to help you they tell you something even if they are not sure it is right.”

My advice is use several guides for what each is best at, carry as few whole books as possible, and use the copy machine to pick just what you need from all of them.

Now there is the internet with help for going to Italy that was unimaginable when I started going on $10 a day in the early 70’s. Some things are changing fast in Italy as computers change the way everyone does business and communicates. Don't rely on just guide books any more.

By the way, it goes without saying the more you read before you get there the more you will enjoy it there. I also recommend reviewing that college stand by, Janson’s History of Art.

Stavros Macrakis , May 04, 2004; 02:17 P.M.

The gastronomic guidebook to Italy I like best now is the "Osterie d'Italia", published by Slow Food Editore. In Italian only as far as I know. Although the title says it's a guide to taverns (osterie), it really covers real (old) taverns, new tavern-like places, restaurants, trattorie, etc. Its preference is for rustic, simple places with excellent local food as opposed to "palaces". I like their selections.

Clau Giagno , September 11, 2006; 05:40 A.M.

Hallo to all!!!
I have been in Italy for 3 weeks and I travel around the peninsula: really great country!! For my accommodation in Italy I visited the Italy Hotels directory... If you'll visit Florence I suggest to visit Florence accommodations...
Have a good time!!!

Amanda Weir , October 01, 2007; 09:55 A.M.

Hello everybody! I suggest to visit this guide for Italy hotels. If you are searching for Rome hotels or Rome apartments, and for Florence hotels you can visit these online resources. To find a guide to Rome Airport visit this website. I hope this help


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