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Highly pictorial, these Eyewitness Travel Guides are now offered in a tenth anniversary edition, with all the information savvy travelers need to know.
672 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
128 people are currently reading
1032 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 2, 2016
DK books are great! DK Eyewitness Travel 2016 Italy has helped me plan my husband's and my trip to Italy in 2017. I have wanted to stay at Villa d'Esta on Lake Como about 45 minutes from Milan (NE) since I visited Lake Lugano in Switerland when I was in my twenties. It looks as though I am finally going to stay there for our 35th wedding anniversary next year and I cannot wait! We will also stay in Venice visiting Verona on the way. Then we will take a train to Rome and from there to Pompeii. Then we will go to The Amalfi Coast. This book points out many fantastic places to visit, has beautiful pictures and illustrations, and I just like the way DK produces their books. I like DK more than any other publisher for their books which help the reader learn about a subject, be it a country such as Italy or an occupation of being a pirate. I bought a DK book on pirates in Nova Scotia on one trip. Fantastic guide books are published by DK of which Italy is just one!
July 31, 2010
I'd rate this one four stars but for one key flaw -- man oh man is it heavy! I'd never dream of carting this book around -- it's strictly a reference book as far as I'm concerned.
Having said that, I'm a big fan of the Eyewitness Travel Guides. The format is appealing -- a lavishly illustrated introductory section expounding on the history and key features of the city followed by color-coded sections, each devoted to a different area. As might be expected, art and architecture are areas that get the most attention, but cuisine, fashion, wine, and opera also get their due.
The rear of the book is devoted to practicalities such as transportation, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. Since it heavily relies on pictures rather than words, it's easy to pick up a guide, thumb through it, and let a striking photo serve as inspiration for where to go or what to do. The text on even the major sights is succinct, so if it's the full monty you're after, supplement this guide with something more substantial like a Blue Guide. However, if you want to get a quick sense of what a destination has to offer, an hour or so spent with one of these guides is probably one of the most effective ways to do background research.
Having said that, I'm a big fan of the Eyewitness Travel Guides. The format is appealing -- a lavishly illustrated introductory section expounding on the history and key features of the city followed by color-coded sections, each devoted to a different area. As might be expected, art and architecture are areas that get the most attention, but cuisine, fashion, wine, and opera also get their due.
The rear of the book is devoted to practicalities such as transportation, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. Since it heavily relies on pictures rather than words, it's easy to pick up a guide, thumb through it, and let a striking photo serve as inspiration for where to go or what to do. The text on even the major sights is succinct, so if it's the full monty you're after, supplement this guide with something more substantial like a Blue Guide. However, if you want to get a quick sense of what a destination has to offer, an hour or so spent with one of these guides is probably one of the most effective ways to do background research.
October 30, 2021
Great! Easy to use perfect for families.
October 14, 2008
This was great for choosing which areas we wanted to visit because of the color pictures. I do recommend it for that. I would never pack it to carry around with me on my trip though. It weighs an absolute ton! I carried Rick Steves books with me on my trip.
October 8, 2018
Χρησιμότατο για ταξιδιώτες
July 2, 2018
This is a beautiful book and I used it as reference, but didn't find it as helpful in planning a trip as the Rick Steves guide book to Italy.
May 29, 2019
Great info and advice
December 17, 2019
Melhor guia para quem pensa em viajar para a Itália.
August 12, 2020
I am studying Italian language. I use this book more as a solid reference for Italian regions, places, monuments etc that I read about in English then speak about in Italian.
September 27, 2020
Loved the colored photos, the easy to read and navigate sections. The fun facts scattered throughout were a bonus.
October 6, 2023
Magazine quality (slick) pages, stunning photos and maps. TONS of travel information. Perhaps overwhelmingly massive and outdates quickly? DK Eyewitness my go-to for foreign travel, but still I search/google for most recent data for reservations, etc.
August 8, 2022
It is an okay guide book. Nothing special, no extra tidbits. A book like many others.
If you already have an Italy Guidebook, you can skip this one.
If you already have an Italy Guidebook, you can skip this one.
June 24, 2023
Great, and a modern and easy guide to Italy. Mio paese ♡
August 11, 2024
this was a 2022 or so and very up to date, great guide lots of pictures to whet your appetite, good overall travel guide to Italy. Dainotto Cristina was the editor.
March 22, 2013
Pages: 111
Genre: Non-Fiction
Brief summary: This book is about all the places in Italy my favorite is place their is Venice. Venice is in northeaster Italy and has a group of around 120 small islands, It is the capital of the Veneto region and has over 270,000 people. In Italy Venice is pronounced "Venezia." The city is not actually built on islands because it is not strong enough to support the building, they are supported by a series of wooden platforms. Venice is made up of many canals and bridges. It has 150 canals and 431 bridges. The Grand canal is the largest canal that splits the city in half.
Comments: I read this book because i get to go to Italy every summer and one of my favorite places their is Venice, also I love the canals their and also think this is a great book for people to read if you want to learn about Italy.
Genre: Non-Fiction
Brief summary: This book is about all the places in Italy my favorite is place their is Venice. Venice is in northeaster Italy and has a group of around 120 small islands, It is the capital of the Veneto region and has over 270,000 people. In Italy Venice is pronounced "Venezia." The city is not actually built on islands because it is not strong enough to support the building, they are supported by a series of wooden platforms. Venice is made up of many canals and bridges. It has 150 canals and 431 bridges. The Grand canal is the largest canal that splits the city in half.
Comments: I read this book because i get to go to Italy every summer and one of my favorite places their is Venice, also I love the canals their and also think this is a great book for people to read if you want to learn about Italy.
August 28, 2022
I think this is a great guide to getting a taste of Italy and finding some cool places to go. It gave us the idea to have breakfast at the Vatican, gave us a better idea of how to function in Cinque Terre, gave me some great ideas for our time in Tuscany, and it will help us to navigate over to the island of Murano while we are in Venice. I love Eyewitness books so I gravitated toward this and I think it was a great find. I especially love when they breakdown buildings such as church's, in true Eyewitness style, so you can see the inside a little and get an idea what some of the church's are like. I know there are so many great travel guides, but if you want to substitute to your Rick Steves guidebook with another travel guide, I recommend this one.
April 7, 2013
I brought this book with me to Italy last April. It was very useful. This book is filled with numbers of colored pictures which is different from the other travel guides. It is easy to match the view in your eyes and the instroductions given by the book in the format of colored pictures, especially when you don't have time to do too many research before the trip. It might provide less information than those text stlye travel guides but I really can't be bothered to read loads of black and white texts dryly when I stand in front of the sights. Even I tried to read those books I could not get it well when they describe the details of the churches or other architectures before I saw it.
April 23, 2016
Rome is a wonderful place. This book will help you pick places to visit in Italy and help you discover the beauty and pleasures of being in Italy. So, here’s a page with some of the most useful Italy travel tips on the book. It will help you to figure out a budget for your trip and also some good ways to cut the costs of an Italy trip. This is a great guidebook that could cover things there to do and see in Italy. I found this book easy to read and full of lots of useful information. Great book to have and easy to read and follow.
November 22, 2012
I always loved this series of books, especially the Italy books but never thought they would be practical to take on a trip due to their weight. After going to Italy this year and not taking this book, I realized what a big mistake that was. There were a lot of people using it, plus it's great if you just want to roam around and know what you're looking at. Hey, it weighs less than all the bottles of water I was lugging around!
May 9, 2016
É um livro bastante útil. Estou a planear uma viagem à Itália e este foi o meu livro base. É bastante concreto. Uma coisa que poderá ser um ponto negativo é o facto de ser um livro muito "pesado" para levar de viagem. Mas sendo que existem livros da mesma colecção mais resumidos (por exemplo o top 10 de X cidade) esse fator pode ser contornado. Tem imagens bastante apelativas e as informações são de fácil leitura. Recomendo.
June 24, 2011
Very much enjoyed. Love the eyewitness books. After complete trip planning we've decided to delay trip for now and instead go to Cape Cod for our anniversary, but I'd highly this book for anyone preparing for a trip to Italy. I've used this same guide series for other international trips and they are fabulous.
May 23, 2016
Traveling will no longer difficult now, this book is the best guide! Italy, as what I have known is the best place to visit, with all the beautiful places that really amazed everyone. This book showed me the best places to visit in Italy and to enjoy food, accommodation, and to relax and shop. This book made my vacation easier since this include a map. See you there!
December 23, 2007
This book was our guide when we visited Italy in May of 2000. I love the photos in these Eyewitness books. The only drawback is the weight...these books are of such a good quality, glossy paper, that they're pretty heavy to carry around. But, you hate to be without them.
April 17, 2008
This book really covers the highlights of Italy. I still go back and look at it all the time and marvel at the fact that I have been there and have actually seen all these marvelous things! Great travel companion book!
September 16, 2008
Lots of lovely photos, good history of Italy, interesting cultural info. But the hard information about places to see is superficial, and since this guide was written in 1996, dated and incorrect. Look at it for inspiration but rely on something newer, with more detail, when you get there.
December 6, 2019
As always, the DK guides come through. Best for planning, not carrying, (must weigh 2 lbs). The high points of the whole country are covered. For specific regions, though, you're better off with the DK Guides to "Florence" "Rome", etc.
March 15, 2015
Lots of great info! it has me pumped for continuing planning our trip! though dog earing the book was difficult...the book itself needs some additional editing. There are references to pages that aren't correct and the different regions are not necessarily formatted the same ways.
February 22, 2016
Very helpful guide in my trip planning. This book helped me know what to look for in sites for each city I visited and in famous paintings and sculptures at the various museums in Florence. Really useful road map helped me get around the insane layout of Venice.
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November 29, 2015Great pictures -- didn't use too much on my Italian trip though.
April 21, 2012
I didn't read this book cover-to-cover, but the parts on Florence were informative and the illustrations are awesome.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews