this completely revised edition covers Italy's mezzogiorno, the region south of Rome to Calabria including Capri the 20 itineraries offer thoughtful analyses of the region's history and geology, art and architecture, flora and fauna a careful selection of the finest hotels and restaurants; detailed practical information; sections devoted to southern Italian history, art and cuisine; up-to-date maps and plans and illustrations an indispensable guidebook and invaluable reference volume
For the art fan, there are no greater guides out there than the Blue Guides. The guide for Southern Italy is no exception and was an invaluable companion during my recent trip to Naples including Pompeii and Herculaneum. I purchased it as an eBook and do have a few beefs with that format, but I don't know whether they are due to the Amazon app or to how the eBook was published. For one thing, the searching is nearly useless on the iPad version. The page formatting is poor on the iPhone. Both used lots of valuable battery and required me to jump around. The primary disadvantage was that the maps where cut in two parts and hard to read and not well cross-referenced into the text so I had to use the locally provided maps at the various sites to navigate. Other than that, the context was extraordinary and ever so insightful. Their coverage of the National Archeological Museum was especially great. A must for really appreciating the cultural aspects of the great city of Naples and its wealth of nearby sites.
As with other Blue Guides I know, the most recent editions have edited out lots of the rigorous detail (room by room, case-by-case movement through museums; chapel-by-chapel movement through churches, etc) to produce a lighter set of itineraries. They are still strong guidebooks, just different from their former selves...