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| Rick Steves' Italy 2008 (Rick Steves) | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Steves
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $2.89
You Save: $19.06 (87%)
Buy New/Used from $1.93
Avg. Customer Rating:  (26 reviews)
Sales Rank: 151753
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 800
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 4.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 1566918618
Dewey Decimal Number: 914.504929
EAN: 9781566918619
ASIN: 1566918618
Publication Date: September 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Steves usually has a good take June 14, 2008
Rick Steves did a great job on his ITALY 2008 book. I was going to the Cinque Terre and he has a great breakdown for that area in the book. Also, he made good calls on nearby Pisa and Lucca. Steves said that one need not spend A LOT of time in these cities and he is right. A few hours to see the main sights in Pisa (3 including the leaning tower) are fine and a good 2-hour walk-a-round in Lucca is enough too. Special Note on Lucca: Puccini was born in Lucca and they perform recitals of his works in one of the churches there. This would be worth an overnight to catch a recital if you want to soak in more culture than you can from just street scenes. Suggestion: travel to Pisa early in the day, visit the Field of Miracles, then end up in Lucca in the PM (short train ride between the two) for your overnight. Do your Lucca walk-a-round PLUS attend a Puccini recital. Then you will have done most if not all of what you should do in these two "competing" towns. Steves points out stuff like this. This was the first time I used a Steves book. Normally I use Michelin Green Guides. But now I would use more tour books by Steves. His style is engaging, even if sometimes it might be a bit preachy for those of us who already know how to mind our (American) manners! In my travels in early June 2008 I did not see any Americans out of line, whatsoever. Not along the Cinque Terre and not at either Pisa or Lucca. In fact, I did not note anyone out-of-line, or drinking too much, or similar stuff, in any of my recent travels. I accept such things can happen, but during my recent excursion I did not notice any such disappointing behavior.
A Very Good Book May 29, 2008
Rick Steve's takes the approach that you will only visit a major European country one time. With that in mind he tries to tailor your visit to focus your attention on only the most important things. I have used his books for 9 years and have found that his tastes do not match mine in most things, but if Rick recommends something as a must see, you ignore it at your peril.
I always use Rick's books as the skeleton of my trip plans, picking out his top choices, and then I flesh out my trips with other sources that are a better match for my tastes.
If you are planning repeat visits to a country you will quickly find that his books are worthless. If you stray from his well blazed trail of long published "secrets" you will be on your own. But his approach is a very good one for a first time visit. Just don't expect to be finding any great travel treasures that no one knows about. There are "As seen in Rick Steves" signs all over Europe.
Good if you're going to Italy, but... May 8, 2008
if you're staying in certain cities, it'd be better to get his Rome, Florence and the Tuscany region and the Venice book.
We used the Italy book, it had nice recommendations on food, hotels and such. They were excellent. Had recommended sights. But the tour guide section found in his Rome book were missing from the Italy book. Because you really can carry around a huge book. If I were to do it again, I would have gotten individual books. But if I were to go to multiple cities, this would definetly be the book to get.
On our trip we went to Rome and Florence.
Great guidebook May 6, 2008
I have bought about 10-15 guidebooks for an upcoming Mediterranean Cruise and have read each one. This one is my favorite - Rick tells it like it is, I've learned very interesting facts that weren't in any other guidebook. I also appreciate that he reviews from budget to luxury options, so you can choose based on your day's plans - for example, where to eat. Many guidebooks only review sit down restaurants when you might only want a quick panini if you are going to be touring all day. He also offers walking tours of several of the major sites. He lists things to do if you only have a day in one place, which is great for cruisers. There is also a useful appendix. The paper is very thin, so highlighters will bleed through to the opposite page a little bit. However, this book is very compact for the information that it contains. It's 800-900 pages and only about an inch thick. I will actually take this with me and carry it around on my trip.
 Average book on Italy, but last I checked Sicily was part of Italy. May 2, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
The book is of average quality when compared to other Italy travel books. It comes with the standard "Rick Steves Advertising" throughout the book. The issue which brought me to return the book was the omission of Sicily from the book. As far as I know, Sicily is still very much a part of Italy and thus should have been included.
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