Lonely Planet Italy: Perfect for exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled (Travel Guide) Paperback – 1 May 2023

Super travel sized guide book, purchased for someone who collects Lonely Planet guides, a good balance of stunning photos, history and essential information

I have been using LP since 1992 and I am disappointed in these latest editions. The maps have very annoying feint text for road names, which I find very difficult to read. There seems to be less information in them than in the past. Obviously there does not need to be much info about accommodation but info about places seems less. Such a shame as they were so good.

I really love these new format Lonely Planet guides and this Italian guidebook in particular. It’s much more visual than the old format and much more readable. Let’s face it, we use the internet for looking for accommodation these days and up to date travel info so the fact this is slimmed down is not an issue. This is much more of a planning guide now as to where to go and when. I loved it.

We’ve always bought a Lonely Planet wherever we’ve been on the planet. This new format is more photographs and high level information, but lacks the specific detail, maps and practical advice that these guides used to be. We ended up on Tripadvisor and then going through the official websites for places from there, which defeats the point of buying a Lonely Planet! I think we’ll get a Rough Guide wherever we go next, and sadly leave the Lonely Planet in the bookshop.

This is an absolutely brilliant guidebook to Italy, with all of the features I'd expect and none of the useless waffle that makes some guidebooks a slog to get through. Genuinely useful tips, a treasure trove of knowledge, inspiring itineraries, and beautiful photographs - this has it all!What to expect:- Sensible itineraries for day trips, multiple day stays, or whole roadtrips in and across Italy's cities and regions.- Lists upon lists of popular sights and destinations to choose from: historical, cultural, architectural, natural, commercial, there's something for everyone.- Beautiful photos and illustrations.- Maps, lots and lots of useful maps, including a bonus fold-out map of Rome.- Great additional tips, like when it's best to visit, what the weather's usually like, when there are extra events like festivals and local celebrations, etc.- A useful good-to-know section in the back, regarding different types of accommodation, travelling with children, being LGBT+, general etiquette, an Italian primer with some basic phrases, and more.We've been to Italy multiple times so naturally I checked those sections first to see what the book recommends and I'm happy to report that it all checks out based on my experience and I would be quite happy to follow its advice. For instance, it recommends starting off the morning of the 2nd day in Rome with the Vatican Museums which is indeed a good idea as the queues there are massive. I could've done without the food and drink ads (e.g. "where to grab a drink" "restaurants along the canals" "have dinner at such-and-such's eatery") but these were less instrusive (just some small notes on the margins) than they tend to be in other guidebooks. This is really just a small gripe though, I just prefer to find places organically during our trip rather than read ads for businesses that may or may not even operate anymore by the time we get there. There were some general notes about Italy's cuisine though, including some popular pastas to try, as well as highlighting other local specialities, which was great. The descriptions, information, and background details were insightful and inspiring throughout. I honestly loved most of it, I can't recommend this guidebook highly enough!

This is a book packed with so much information on virtually the whole of Italy, I think this book would be good for someone maybe planning a trip through Italy as it covers most of the country, the major tourist attractions, the beautiful coastal areas like the amalfi coast, it has information on places to stay , places to dine, must see attractions and historical places like pompeii, Rome, Milan and other major cities and also natural wonders to visit like mount vesuvius and beautiful islands and the canals of Venice.This book is impressive with the amount of detail it holds and you can definitely use this book to get an idea of which areas of Italy you would like to visit first or if you were planning a multi day trip you can get an idea of places you could visit during a weekend stay or longer holiday.The book is chunky and has a lot of beautiful photographs, good recommendations and facts, testimonies, clear maps , highlights of places to see, must see places, it's packed with information.It's well set out and easy to navigate the different chapters and pages , colour coded tabs on the pages help too.This book is a good option to get a good idea of what Italy has to offer, it's an amazing country with amazing history, culture and food , it has good detail but if you are planning to visit a certain place like the Amalfi coast for example then this book has a lot of information but would probably be best combined with another book that is all about the Amalfi coast.But this book is very good , I've enjoyed reading it and one I'll definitely pick up again and get ideas of places to visit in italy 🇮🇹For the price of £14 at the time of writing I'd say that was superb value for a book as packed with useful information as this.

It's good quality, full of lovely photos and useful information. But, it's really too heavy to carry comfortably while touring the sites. So I had to return it.