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Grab Your Guidebooks
Discover Italy Newsletter
Greetings,
We have all kinds of of ideas about guidebooks to
pass along to you and your family. We have bought
and used many of them and when I wrote the Italy Discovery
Journal, I evaluated all the current guides
for
families traveling in Italy, so below you will find
specific suggestions.
P L Byrne
Buy Before You Fly
Local Selection Limited
Don't wait till you get to Europe to buy your guide
books. The selection on Amazon is phenomenal, while
in Italy it is typically limited and expensive. You
can find Michelin guides,
which
have their uses, but it seems the only editions I see
are in
German or French.
Locally produced guides, even the ones for a specific
site such as a museum, are often dry and poorly
translated. Don't let that stop you from buying the
information you need to enjoy a site, just be
forewarned.
Read before you go:
- Take Your Kids to
Europe is great for attitude and general
suggestions for handling day-to-day challenges. It is
a little light on Italy, but great for
France, the UK, and Spain.
- Rick Steve's Italy is a
good, general-purpose guide book but best, I think,
for his light-hearted approach to the joys of travel.
He offers a whole line of books for different
countries and regions. Also consider his guide that
provides background in history and art -- it
has
probably been a long time since you studied the
Renaissance. As long as I am touting his line, I like
the "backdoor" approach he
offers to travel preparation and to making travel a
fun
and personal experience. Buy them all, I say!
- Italy With Kids is a
good for planning where you will go with
your family.
- To get a flavor of a country, I like to watch travel
videos. I recommend Rick Steves' Europe:
Italy,
and browse other offerings, there are many videos
that you can pop into the DVD player to give you and
your family painless background to your travels.
(DVD)
- Fodor's Italy offers
hotel suggestions that are useful only before you
travel. You shouldn't travel with your family in Italy
during high season without previous reservations. It
can also serve as a general purpose guide that
includes restaurant suggestions.
Day-to-day reference while you travel:
These are the dog-eared books that travel with you
all the way.
- Eyewitness Guide to
Rome is just one of the Eyewitness series. The
three-dimensional maps of target areas are good for
navigation and are just plain interesting. The graphics
are wonderful, captivating for kids and adults. The
detail is very helpful; if you happen across
something interesting and want to figure out what it
is, you can find it in the Eyewitness Guide. They do
not cover restaurants and hotels. We buy
one for every area we
Michelin Green Guide to
Italy, as well as regional and city editions, is
factual and complete. It ranks sights so
you can use the guide to decide which sight might be
the most interesting or are likely to be the most
crowded. When you are driving, the
Michelin Green Guides (Red is for restaurants and
hotels) are indispensable.
All the towns (well, almost)
are in there,
so if you see a lovely-looking hill town in the distance
and a road sign with a name, you can look it up
and quickly determine whether you want to make a
detour. And, sometimes it is just nice to know that
you are driving past an area known for certain history
or agriculture.
Italy
Discovery Journal is great for kids and the young
at heart with activities, facts and observations you
won't find in any of the above.
Fodor's Around Rome with
Kids presents only sites
that might interest kids and also directs you to
the closest kid-friendly restaurants. I think the red
ink is hard to read and I still don't understand how it
is organized, but, like the Italy Discovery
Journal, if it brightens just an hour of your
precious vacation, it is probably worth it!
And, there are many more: Top Ten Guides are
really
helpful for brief stays. Rough Guides support
serious
and budget-minded tourists. Most general purpose
guides have good sections on basics like how to use
phones and toilets. I evaluate them by checking them
out of the library and then buy my favorites. A
suggestion is to let each member of your family
select and bring a different guidebook.
Summer
in Tuscany
Some Weeks Still Available
 This handsome, restored Tuscan
farmhouse is an ideal base for discovering the large and
small sites of Tuscany. And when sightseeing is not
on the agenda, you can swim in the pool,
enjoy the view, and shop in the little local market.
Sip
the famous local Brunello wine while you turn fresh,
local ingredients into a relaxed meal under the
loggia.
You will appreciate the splendid stone-built
farmhouse, set on a hill and
surrounded by vineyards and olive trees. The view
sweeps out over the hills of Montalcino
down to the valley of the Orcia River and as far as
Monte Amiata. In the valley below is the majestic
Abbey of Sant'Antimo which dates back to the 12th
century. The property is private and tranquil.
A previous vacationer notes: "It is about 2 hours
from Florence, 45 minutes from Siena, an hour from
Montepulciano, and 10 minutes from Montalcino... We
were thrilled with our luck, and the place was worth
the money we paid. I wish I could have packed up
the house and moved it lock, stock and barrel to
Charlotte! The layout was perfect -- plenty of
privacy provided between the bedrooms and baths,
and I can envision having a blast with a group of
close friends who love to cook and relax by the pool."
This is a high-end rental
for four that costs about the same as two first-class
hotel rooms. The other part of the villa sleeps six,
so a party of ten could have the entire gorgeous
property.
More
information about Tuscany Villa Rentals.
Guide For The Day
Take Turns Taking Charge
Kids, volunteer to be the guide of the day,
taking turns with your parents and other kids. Read
about a place or an event you are interested in and
look it up in the guide books. If it is a museum or
other location where you will have to get in, check
the times it is open, how to get tickets, and how
much they cost.
Find it on a map and figure out how you will get there
and when. You might even look into restaurants and
refreshments. While you are there, show your family
things that might interest them.
This kid-focused guide book and journal offers more
than 500 ideas to help kids and their families enjoy
travel in Italy. It reduces whining and gets them
engaged in popular culture, goofy observations, and
strange history.
Cynthia Harriman, author of Take
Your Kids to Europe, reviewed the Italy Discovery
Journal and wrote: "Italy Discovery Journal is the
best educational travel-guide available for kids.
Starting with the reasonable assumption that other
guides already list places to go and things to see, Pat
Byrne has largely skipped those listings. In their
place, she's created a unique collection of activities
that encourage kids 6-16 to truly observe and
interact with Italy during their visit..."
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Tear Up Your Guidebook
Save Weight and Space
A great idea from seasoned travelers is to rip apart
your guide books and bring with you just the pages
you need for the day. A lighter bag and ready
information may be the highest and best use of your
book.
Shameless promotion: The Italy Discovery
Journal is a book you can assemble yourself,
so you can choose and print only the pages you
want. You can put it in a loose leaf binder and
include the pages torn out of your other guidebooks.
Get Maps
What is Swedish for One-Way?
Not only are good guidebooks hard to find when you
are in Italy, so are maps. I think that the early
tourists get them and leave me only maps of places I
don't want to go or that are in languages I can barely
read. This is especially important if you are driving,
so go ahead and order up your set of driving maps
before you leave.
I also recommend getting a map to put on your wall
now so you and your family can become familiar with
the lay of the land and as you learn about Italy, you
can locate planned and possible destinations.
MAPS! 
Get New Guides
Who took the mummies?
Imagine taking boys aged 6, 7, and 9, to the British
Museum promising them the chance to see lots of
real mummies, only to find two
mummified cats. That's all. Every other mummy was
out for cleaning for an extended period of time,
something not mentioned in our two-year-old
guidebook. And, yes, a fellow tourist had a current
edition that noted the situation.
Having written a report on the Code of Hammurabi,
my niece conceded to a trip to the Louvre. My sister,
with her 10 and 12 year old daughters, proudly
navigated the daunting museum with an ageing
Michelin. The Code was not in the room indicated in
the book, nor in any of the surrounding rooms. The
guards she approached, of course, had
no idea what she was asking about. With little
girls now prostrate with fatigue and hunger, they fled
the Louvre, mission failed! Well, Hammurabi's Code
was still in the Louvre, but it had been moved as an
up-to-date guidebook would have noted.
Hours of operation change, dates of events change,
hotels and restaurants come and go, phone numbers
change, and prices go up. For less than $20, the
price of most guidebooks, you are paying for a team
of editors to check all those details. Isn't that worth
it?
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Vacation
Rentals In Italy
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*****
Splendida
Florence,
Central, Arno View
Sleeps
6
3
bedrooms, 2.5 baths
Daily
Maid Service
Total
Royal Luxury
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Tiberio
Rome,
Prati by Sant'Angelo
Sleeps
4 + 2
4
night minimum
Location
and Value
for
a Family
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Castello Niccolo
near
Florence on Chianti Estate
Sleeps 2 -12
Villas
& Apartments
Tuscan
Castle & Wine
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Palazzo Santa Croce
Florence,
Santa Croce
Sleeps
2 - 8
16
apartments
Beautiful
Historic Palazzo
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Via del Corso
Rome,
Spanish Steps
Sleeps
2-6
2
Apartments
4
night minimum
Location
& Flexibility
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Villa Sofia
Siena, Patrician Villa and Farm,
Atmosphere Galore
Sleeps 2-6
Vistas &
Weddings
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Palazzo Cavaliere
Florence,
Santa Croce
Sleeps
2 - 6
21
Apartments
4
night minimum
Central
& Convenient
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Janus
Rome,
btw Capitoline & Trastevere
Sleeps
2-4
35
Suites
4
night minimum
Neat
Neighborhood
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Spagna Apartment
Spanish
Steps, Rome
Sleeps
5
Luxury
& Fabulous Terrace
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Villa Agosto
Siena, Tuscany
Sleeps 4-8
Comfort,
Relaxation, Quality
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Cerretani
Heart
of Florence
Sleeps 1 - 6
8
Apartments
First
Class & Location
|
Ca'
Bella
San
Polo, Venice
Sleeps 4 + 1
2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths
Glorious Rooftop Terrace
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Flaminio
Piazza Popolo, Rome
Sleeps 4+ 2
4
night minimum
Perfect
Family Apt
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Villa Colle
Colle di Val d'Elsa
Tuscany
Sleeps 2+2/Apt
5
nights minimum
Great
Value
Walk
to Hill Town
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Ponte Vecchio
Center
of Florence
Sleeps
2+ 2
1 bedroom, 1
bath
1
week minimum
Perfect
Value & Location for Small Family
|
Contessa
Venice,
btw Rialto - St Mark's
Sleeps 5
2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath
Real Noble Palace
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Via Veneto
Rome
Sleeps
2 + 2
4
night minimum
Convenient
Location, Central & Comfortable
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Borgo Bucine
Arezzo, Tuscany
Sleeps 2-7
Magical
Castle and
Vacation Village
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