Lonely Planet Rome City Guide

by Lonely Planet, Duncan Garwood

A timeless city built by saints and emperors, Rome's grandeur awes and inspires. Be conquered by the greatness of the Pantheon, St Peter's or the Roman Forum, discover seemingly forgotten frescoes and ancient mosaics or amble through sun-drenched piazzas and indulge yourself at Rome's best gelaterie. Choose your own Roman adventure with this stylish guide by our resident author. o FULL-COLOUR MAPS - make navigating the cobbled alleys and remote quarters of Rome easy
o ART & ARCHITECTURE - the lowdown on the most notable monuments and hidden galleries
o BEST DAY TRIPS - all the practical information you need to explore beyond the centre
o DISCERNING REVIEWS - from designer restaurants to family-run trattorias, we'll take you to the best of this gastronomic heartland

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Italy, Guidebook, Guides

338 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[autumn ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

practical and so helpful for my upcoming trip this year - whilst my visit is mostly preplanned by my college it was still so useful with specific places, as well as a language section which i will be referencing back to A LOT!!

[Alexander ter Hark · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, lots of good practical advice as to what to see/do.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I did not read every single page, I did read a great many of them. Lots of great details, history and facts in this one. I liked the extra details on top experiences and the local knowledge and fun fact boxes throughout.

[Dinesh Palli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important places like Piazza Venezia are missing.
Also, hostels should be mentioned for backpackers.

[Mark G. Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well Organized and Detailed

Breakdowns by neighborhoods is helpful. Links to web sites, pricing info etc also very useful. I’ll definitely keep this with me when I visit. A great resource! Grazie!

[Marilyn Sue Michel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2022 edition gives detailed descriptions for many neighborhoods in Rome, basic information on transport and history, and includes a language section. The Covid advice, and ETIAS information, may not be current. Pull out paper map included.

[Shelleylovespaul Pritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it xx

Very easy to use even show you were its cheaper poo book than shoot a map o f each area xxxx

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely in depth and useful!

[Rachel Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great tips and tricks of making a trip to Rome so great! It was very well organized and helped greatly to better understanding the city while we visited on our vacation.

[Cris · Rating 5 out of 5]

información bastante concisa sobre las cosas que ver para no dejarse nada importante, aunque todos sabemos que Roma es infinita

[Elly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great guide for Rome with useful tips, no unnecessary blabla. You need nothing else to prepare the stay. Lonely Planet as always is the best guide you can get.

[Ferio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reseñar y puntuar guías de viaje me produce un cierto cosquilleo espiritual: es algo tan freak que solo estando trastornado mentalmente como yo podrías entender. ¿Qué separa a una guía de viaje de las 3 a las 4 estrellas? ¿Y de las 5? Son todas preguntas de grandísimo interés y que me acongojan en las solitarias noches de invierno.

Esta guía de Roma, lugar donde planeo pasar unos días en un futuro indeterminado, cumple pulcramente su cometido llenando mi cabeza y mi Evernote de planes e ideas, pero no termina de hacer que centre el mapa en mi cabeza como sí me pasó recientemente, por ejemplo, con su guía de NY. Quiero decir que tengo más o menos claro qué cosas quedan al norte de la ciudad y qué cosas al sur, pero cómo encajan todas esas piezas en el mapa y llevan de unas a otras no me ha quedado nada claro y me obliga a consultar mis aplicaciones cartográficas, algo nada deseable a estas alturas que ya he terminado de leerla.

Por otra parte, creo que los capítulos finales, en los que te hablan de la arquitectura romana a través del tiempo y cosas similares, son más propios de otro tipo de libros y los datos que contienen deberían estar en las entradas correspondientes a cada edificio, porque lo que uno hace es llegar a un sitio e irse a la entrada en la guía para entender qué está viendo, y no va a ponerse a pensar si el libro incluía otros datos sobre el mismo en una sección oscura al final. Quizá esto pueda parecer cuestión banal o menor, pero ya avisé de que estoy un poco trastornado.

Sea como sea, no demostrará toda su valía hasta que llegue a la ciudad y vea si sus recomendaciones son plenamente válidas; gente que la conoce bien me dice que acierta en las obviedades, pero sus recomendaciones de cosas menos obvias no son tan acertadas. El tiempo me dirá quién tiene la razón; yo, por mi parte, me he leído de principio a fin esta guía de viaje de Roma porque siempre quise ser un digno personaje de una novela de John Kennedy Toole.

[Ocelot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per usual, I loved reading this wonderfully-written Lonely Planet book, detailing all aspects of Rome. I used this book on my travels, and there are some lovely places detailed in this travel guide, which I just had to go to. Thank you Lonely Planet for your advice!

Some places to visit are:
- The Trevi Fountain, with many beautiful statues. Want to learn some history, and how to properly throw a coin into the fountain?
- The Pantheon, (No, not the Parthenon, though, they do have a book detailing all the places in Greek!) a 2,000 year old temple, which is now used as a church. Want to learn more about the dome, and how water enters the church through the opening in the top of the roof?
- And of course, don't miss out on the Colosseum!
You can learn more about the wonderfully interesting history of Rome, and catch some good places to stay, eat, rest, or whatever else you might want to do in Rome! There's also some information about shopping, and some day trips to places outside of Rome, or inside the city. Beautiful maps are also included in this book, along with information about entertainment, culture, and top sites!

For a book 19 cm tall, and 328 pages plus an amazing pull-out map, I would say it's jam-packed with very interesting details of places to visit, and the beautiful sites of Rome.

I would like to thank Lonely Planet for providing me with this book in exchange for this review.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't that sold on the lonely planet guide format. Next visit to the library and I will be looking for other guides to Rome. Sure enough the information is here. The potted histories covering the past three thousand years are what would be expected from any guide to this city, along with the information for the many sites to visit. The Vatican is particularly well covered. The usual content is here, for travel within the city, places to eat, places to stay etc.
Where I thought the lonely planet guide didn't score too well for me was it's layout. I found it to be a tedious job finding my way around the city using the maps. For instance it took me a while to locate the Pantheon, shown on the map as the Piazza della Rotonda. For a pocket sized guide, what's the betting that this one doesn't hold a candle to the DK version.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guide combines quick reference sections to help plan a trip to the famed historic city then a more detailed breakdown of each area including the places to visit, where to eat and where to drink. There is also a useful rundown of where to stay and the best places within each part of the city depending on budgets, reasons for visiting and the like, not to mention some details on the history of the city, its customs, politics, arts and way of life. There is even a pull out map to make navigation around the city that little bit easier. Overall this is fairly well written and easy to follow and acts as a great starting point but it is a little harder to find specifics if you know what you're looking for.

[Bar6ara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might be being a bit harsh with 2 stars, but I wasn't very impressed with some of the recommendations. Still, it's good for planning what to do based on where things are and learning a bit of history about places. Everywhere the book recommended for food and shopping I was interested in turned out to be real disappointing- but then those are personal taste issues and someone else might thank their lucky stars it was recommended.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel much cooler being a tourist when I have my lonely planet. Much more helpful than the confusing maps the hotel gave us. When I looked at the incredible ruins, I had a context to place them in since the guide goes into a little of the history and specifics on certain sites. Will definately bring it along the next time I go.

[P · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much of it read like the authors were phoning it in. A lot of useful info was left out and the guide catered to a well-heeled crowd, focusing only on costly high-culture activities. For instance, Rome's excellent flea markets did not merit attention whereas a potted history was shoved in the back pages. Not one of the better Lonely Planet guidebooks.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean, it's a travel guide not a novel. So it isn't riveting. It has a lot of good information but it is also very dense so it's hard to pull out the information you need from the information you don't need. If you're looking for an extremely in-depth guide to Rome then this book is for you.

[Neal Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found that this Lonely Planet guide was not as well-laid-out and clear as the Dorling Kinderley travel guides.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

2013 edition

[Theut · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Soliti" pregi e difetti della Lonely. Stavolta serve solo per una mera questione logistica ;)

[Melann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complet, de bon conseil !

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful

[LaZia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le guide della Lonely: sempre una certezza

[Finn Mc G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave me good info

[Steven Kasapi · Rating 1 out of 5]

kindle version is broken

Formatting is messed up and text is missing. Either remove the book from the catalog or fix it. Gives Lonely Planet a bad name.