No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go. In this guide, updated every year, our experts who live in Italy give you the inside track showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun. Start with the color planning section to help you decide where to go, use your personal supply of Post-it? flags to mark your favorite listings, and consult the foldout map to stay on course. Fodor's Italy 2002 shows you hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special. The Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency. Plus, web links, maps, costs, and mix-and-match itineraries make planning a snap.
Fodor's Travel Publications is a United States-based producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor in 1936. Fodor’s was acquired by Random House in 1986 and sold to Internet Brands in 2016.
Great for an overview of many different locations in Italy; obviously not able to go into great depth on any one location (other than Rome, and even there I thought the information was overly focused on the Vatican).
Better than having nothing, but really bare bones on info for any given site or city. I personally don't really need a guide book to tell me about hotels or restaurants, I'll find that on my own. For history and culture this book is weak. On organization, to find the info you are looking for on a particular topic, the index is nearly useless and the table of contents does little to make up for it.
Preferred Rick Steve's travel guide, but Fodor's has obviously stood the test of time. Very broad in scope, this hits all of the "highlights," but lacks some of the out of the way, quirky things that make traveling in Italy so much fun -- especially if you've already done the major touristy stuff.
I read only the sections pertaining to where we'll visit: Rome, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Lake Como, Cinque Terra, and Venice. All were very helpful as is always the case with Fodor's.
It's okay, but found we used it the least of the travel books we had. Not nearly so detailed as the Blue Guide, and less practical info than Rick Steves.