Lonely Planet Italy

If the city-focused travel guide books are considered novels, one should view Lonely Planet's "Italy" book as a collection of short stories. Over 900 pages of short stories. The book, like all of the Lonely Planet offerings, is beautifully laid out with bright and bold colors, clear organizational elements, and a wonderful multitude of clearly labelled and easily understood maps.

What the book lacks, however, is any real depth. Every element allows the reader to dip his prospectively traveling toe in only the shallowest of Italian waters. I kept wanting more, but I think that's what the city-specific books are for.

My family of five is planning a trip to Italy. We'll be hitting the biggies of Rome, Florence and Venice. This Lonely Planet "Italy" offering will be perfect for creating the outline of our activities. Since we're visiting multiple cities, we'll be able to use this as our 40,000-foot view of Italy and the specific cities we plan to visit. The core of our trip, however, will be guided by the city guides.

The book contains the requisite recommended itineraries of different lengths, and has a plethora of small 'top lists' focused on food, shopping, activities in each location.

I received this book as part of Amazon's Vine program. ( )