Travel to Italy

Lonely Planet Florence

Format: Paperback
Author: Damien Simonis
ReleaseDate: March, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

great restaurants and good advice
It had great restaurants listed and I visited serveral. I just came back from Florence and I used this guide. It also gave me some great advice for going to Fiesole. I saw a private garden that was beautiful!

If you are the type that likes to go to local hangouts, this is your guide.

Worst travel book I have *tried* to rely on
Every book was a tremendous help - except for this one published by Lonely Planet. On a recent trip to France and Italy, my wife and I picked up books from several different publishers to cover each of the four areas we were visiting: Paris, Florence, Venice, and Provence. Without a doubt, this is the worst travel book I have ever tried to rely on. A heroin-addicted chimpanzee could organize a book better than the author and editor, who have eschewed alphabetizing in favor of the random topic jumps of a fashion magazine. Once the information is located, it is muddled with the author's stream of consciousness ramblings about the reader's anticipated viewing of the Florentines' summer tans. For the book to be of any use, a visitor would have to highlight and memorize the rare and sporadic meaningful passages long before setting foot on Italian soil. Finally, the publishers at Lonely Planet have elected to provide only a smattering of maps of Florence, and instead ask that you purchase a separate book for that purpose. I can say, without question, that there are only 3 legitimate reasons for purchasing this "guide": (1) you are related to the author and have some familial obligation that cannot be severed by divorce; (2) you are writing a travel guide yourself and need an example of the worst case scenario to avoid; or (3) you are suckered in by the Lonely Planet logo without a prior customer review to warn you how bad it is.

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Related products:
click image or link for details on these Italy travel books.

	Lonely Planet Rome: City Guides (Lonely Planet Rome)
	Lonely Planet Venice
	Italian: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
	Lonely Planet Italy
	Lonely Planet Best of Florence (Lonely Planet Best of Series)