Rome Venice Florence
-- Mail on Sunday
Now fully redesigned, this new edition contains the most up-to-the-minute practical information and listings, along with color photographs and maps. Travel companies consistently cite this three-city combination as their most sought-after Italian tour. These are three remarkable destinations, with three remarkable stories to tell. Rome went out and conquered the world, and in its retirement came back to remake itself as Europe’s most ornate capital. Venice built itself up from a Dark Age swamp to become a fairy city of canals. Florence built its empire on finance and wool, and lavished the profits on art and science. Cadogan explores their three very different characters: stately Rome, with its Coliseum and the Sistine Chapel; dreamy Venice, and the eternal romance of a gondola ride along its canals; and Florence, bursting with more paintings, sculptures, and monuments than anywhere else in Italy. They all combine to offer a sublime introduction to the country, or a perfect multi-center trip for travelers with limited time. Cadogan’s essential guide uncovers the divine, the great and the quirky in each city.
Good all round guide, /5
In planning my trip to Italy, I needed a book which would give me a good overview of the cities, with plenty of information about its attractions to plan the best use of my limited time there, but which would also fit easily into my hand luggage and take out when on the move. This book was on the borderline from a bulk point of view, but in other respects it covered a lot of the information very well. My only suggestions for improvement would be to slightly reduce the detail in the history of the cities and in the entries for the many churches and galleries in exchange for more coverage of other places of interest - such as major shops, restaurants and places of modern-day entertainment - and much better maps. However, having said that, I found the pages on the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Doge's Palace in Venice had enough detail that I had no need to buy any separate guides. Taking everything into account and having looked at several other guides, I'd recommend this as the one to have.
Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls can be reached at: michel.pauls@wanadoo.fr
