DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Italy (2000 Edition) by DK Travel Writers, DK Travel Writers Staff, Anna Streiffert (Editor)

From Barnes & Noble

Eyewitness Travel Guide: Italy is one of the bestselling travel guides to Italy year after year, and it's easy to see why. Packed with beautiful color photographs and maps, this guide covers all the regions of Italy, with chapters specifically devoted to Rome, Florence, and Venice. With listings of hotels, restaurants, and shops as well as historical information, travelers will find it easy to plan an exciting itinerary. A special feature of DK's travel guides is the stunning three-dimensional views and cutaway models of significant landmarks. Also includes easy-to-follow charts for making sense of the Italian currency, transportation, and communication systems.

From the Publisher

Truly the guides that show you what others only tell you, this book features stunning 3D and cutaway views of museums, cathedrals, and other must-see sights; detailed street maps; a handy phrase section; advice on the best places to eat, drink, shop, sleep, and be entertained; and a Survival Guide to help the traveler sort out essential information such as currency, transportation, and communications. As world traveler and TV personality Michael Palin says, "the Eyewitness Travel Guides are irresistibly seductive.... They also deliver where it matters most -- uncluttered and accurate information." From the peaks of the Alps to the seaports of Sicily, no travel handbook captures the churches, museums, culture, and flavor of Italian cookery like DK's Eyewitness Travel Guide: Italy. With more than 1400 exquisite color photographs, this guide covers all of Italy in regional and street-by-street maps, as well as 3-D aerial views highlighting a vast range of Italy's many wonders. Rome, Venice, Florence, and Naples are all covered in separate chapters full of special layouts showcasing each city's unique attractions. Such sights include Venice's Palazzo Ducale, founded in the 9th century as the official residence of the Venetian ruler, which is spotlighted in a four-page section with an illustrated cutaway, photos of its grand chambers, architectural features, art and artifacts, and summaries of its richly decorated chambers. Other segments focus on Venice's Grand Canal, Padua's Cappella degli Scrovegni, Milan's Pinacoteca di Brera, Florence's San Lorenzo, Assisi's Basilica di San Francesco, and the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, to name only a few. Beyond the cities, the guide showcases suchnatural attractions as the Dolomite Mountains, with a map depicting routes, an illustrated view of the mountains' highest points, and photos of the area's flowers and wildlife. From the Etruscans to the Renaissance to the Risorgimento to contemporary Italy, a detailed chapter capsulizes Italian history with insightful timelines, illustrations of its major early heroes and political figures, and photos of its artifacts and art. Throughout the book, there are wonderful photographic guides to the delectable regional cuisines and fine wines. Put all of Italy at your fingertips with this informative and entertaining travel guide.

Chicago Tribune

The most graphically exciting and visually pleasing series on the market.

People Magazine

Want to know where to get a great espresso on your way to the Uffizi? Or how much to tip a hotel maid in New York City? Try these travel guides, each an intricate trove of 3-D aerial views, landmark floor plans, color photos and essential eating, shopping and entertainment info. With titles covering Paris, Prague, and London, these pocket-sized guides are like a Michelangelo fresco: deliriously rich in detail.

Contra Costa Times

This is a guidebook series that always seems to inspire smiles...You feel, looking at them, as if you could close the book and step into the street.

New York Times

Each book is a visual as well as informational feast about a particular place.

New York Daily News

Each new Eyewitness Guide adds more of the world to this wonderfully visual series.... What sets these guides apart from others is their striking, three-dimensional cutaways of key sites.

Dallas Morning News

Hats off to DK for the Eyewitness Travel Guides...[they] raise the bar for all others.

U.S. News & World Report

Both novice and experienced travelers will be captivated.

US News & World Report

For comprehensive advice that is attractively presented, publisher Dorling Kindersley's guides for serious travelers are tough to beat.

Travel & Leisure

Encyclopedic in scope, it's meant to be used before, during, and after your stay.

Sky Magazine

The best travel guides ever.

New York Times Syndicate

Eyewitness Travel Guides are marvels of writing, color photography and illustration. What makes these so special is their thoroughness.

North American Press Syndication

Eyewitness Travel Guides, considered to be the world's best travel resource to over 30 destinations around the world, make it easier to plan a splendid vacation.

Library Journal

Filled with information literally from cover to cover, this comprehensive guidebook features the fresh, new approach that typifies entries in DK's "Eyewitness" series. The publisher uses over 1400 color photographs as well as high-quality color maps, three-dimensional aerial views, and cutaway models of museums, churches, and other landmarks. The book begins with a general introduction to Italy's location, history, and civilization. Next come 15 chapters on various regions as well as chapters on Rome, Florence, and Venice, highlighting the architectural styles, cuisine, and attractions. Finally, there are hotel and restaurant ratings and a practical information section. The guide will be of use more to independent travelers who want to experience it all and can afford it than to budget or tour-group travelers. An excellent resource for itinerary planning. Highly recommended for all travel collections.William R. Smith, Johns Hopkins Univ. Lib., Baltimore

School Library Journal

YA Today's students want pictures and more pictures, and they will not be disappointed with this series entry that provides similar coverage to standard travel guides. However, while other books describe a site or explain how to get there, Italy gives this information through maps, pictures, photographs, and cut-away drawings. Arranged by regions, it includes cities, villages, churches, food, museums, markets, and more. Many maps are illustrated so that armchair sightseers will know exactly what they would see on a visit. While visiting hours of tourist spots are listed, the costs, which are more likely to change, are not. All of the hotel and restaurant information is given in the back with prices shown in broad categories. Other material that will interest students planning a trip includes pictures of all the currency and directions for and pictures of telephone and rail-ticket machines.Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

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