Florence and Tuscany (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Turtleback)
May 10, 2009 by Destination Guide
Filed under Travel Italy Guides
Review
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Product Description
There is something for just about everyone in Florence and Tuscany. From viewing some of the world’s greatest Renaissance art to wandering around designer boutiques. Discover a whole new side of Florence and Tuscany with the Eyewitness Travel Guide. This guide will give you practical information without any hassle. All of the important towns and other places to visit are described individually. Within each town or city, there is detailed information on important buildings and other sites. Make the most of your trip with the Eyewitness Travel Guide.
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As I’ve said in my review of the Eyewitness Guide to Rome, I am very impressed by the aesthetic qualities of the DK books. They make a great show and tell after you’ve taken the trip, save you from having to take many pictures, and inspire others to want to go there. The content, in terms of guided walks and tours, is just what you need if you’re spending more than a day in the beautiful city of Florence. Face it, if you just spend a day, go to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio area, maybe the Duomo… and let them speak for themselves. But this book goes into decent depth for a variety of attractions and locations. If you are only there three days, you can pick and choose, and it doesn’t skimp. I could see how the Eyewitness Guide to Florence would equip you for a month of travel in Tuscany, easily. I unfortunately couldn’t get out of the city, but that leads to another praise of the book…
I had a significant medical problem in Florence, and needed immediate attention. The book gave the address for a clinic specifically for tourists (I didn’t see this listed in the other guides I had access to). All of the doctors at this clinic spoke English, and I didn’t even have to speak to hospital staff or reception. The thing is, even if many foreigners speak enough English to impress, in health situations it’s very different and easy to confuse and become confused. Trying to get surgery isn’t like ordering dinner. So the directions to this clinic allowed me to get the surgery I needed from someone fluent in my language and made the rest of my trip so much more enjoyable.
The bottom line is, if you’re going to Tuscany, you can trust the DK guides to take care of what you need!
If you plan to buy only one travel guide to Florence and Tuscany, this is the one. It provides an overview of all aspects of Florentine life and then proceeds to discuss the attractions in different sections of the city, complete with street maps. Major attractions are given several page spreads with open building diagrams from which you can determine where a particular painting or sculpture is within a building.
Unfortunately, the coverage tends to be uneven. For instance, very little is said about the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, the museum that houses Michelangelo’s second Pieta, Donatello’s Mary Magdalene, and other significant sculpture by Donatello, della Robbia and others.
The listings of hotels and restaurants are limited, and for our purposes, were of little use. Better to use a current version of a guide dedicated to those subjects.
The best museum guides are the small inexpensive (about 8 euro) ones that are available at the major museums. These exist for the Academy, the Bargello, San Lorenzo, San Marco and the Museum of Archaeology. There is also an excellent, slightly larger guide to the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo that can be bought in their bookshop (You do not have to enter the museum to use the bookshop, which has a fine collection of books on Florence). We bought an entertaining and useful book there (Alta Mcadam’s “Americans in Florence” [ISBN 88-09-013157-1]), which offers a series of walks with recommendations for sights restaurants, and hotels along the way. Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available in the U.S., although some of the same information may be available in the Guinti Guide to Florence.
Also consider purchasing the Knopf Guide to Florence, which is less functional but has beautiful pictures of the city.
The best map is the Knopf CityMap. Compact and very useful.
Recommendation: Our most impressive and beautiful experience in Florence was attending the afternoon vespers in the crypt of San Miniato, at which the Benedictine monks sing Gregorian chants. It’s as if you were taken back 1,000 years. Truly lovely. Every afternoon at 4:30.
One last thing: Be sure to check the hours of the places you plan to visit. Many of the museums (e.g., the Bargello and the Medici Library) are only open during very short hours and only on certain days.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Hard Read
This book is packed with information but it’s hard to follow. Too much information is not necessarily helpful.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Content may be good, but navigation needs work!
One of the biggest advantages of the Kindle for traverlers is being able to reduce the number of tour books required!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Florence and Tuscany
We used this guide and found it to be excellent. We had several guides but this was the most complete and easy to use.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Only wish I’d had more time
Yeah, doesn’t everyone? There is so much in this book outside of Florence and I really wanted to make the trek into the Tuscan hills around the city, especially to Pisa and Siena…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Info for a Trip
I bought this prior to traveling to Italy. Great info on Tuscany and Florence. And I loved that area!!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice guidebook
We enjoyed this guidebook on our recent trip to Florence. It was comprehensive, easy to use, and fun to read.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too much Tuscany?
The travel sections of most bookstores, particularly the larger ones, are awash in books about Italy, and in particular, the region of Tuscany.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for self-guided travelers
My husband and I are free spirit travelers that like to keep the planning somewhat spontaneous, yet still have enough planning to get the most from the experience.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect As Usual
I have become such a fan of the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides that I never use anything else anymore. They are full of historical information, maps, area by area tips for…
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best overall guide available
There is no such thing as the perfect guidebook, but after 13 years of using them I’ve been most impressed by the Eyewitness series.