Rating: 
Summary: Like asking friends who've lived in Rome
Review: There's no doubt that the reader Testa has excellent points. However, if you think of this little book as a collection of places recommended to you by friends, perhaps you won't mind the historical innacuracy. This book combines two great sources for any visitor: expats who've lived there and some Romans who grew up there. You need the foreigner's viewpoint because they see things with an outsider's freshness. While Romans might offer insider advice, most of my Italian friends had never visited the Villa Borghese or stepped foot inside the Pantheon. New Yorkers who've never been to the Statue of Liberty would sympathize. This guide is an excellent accompaniment to something like Lonely Planet or Eyewitness. Bon viaggio.
Rating: 
Summary: Rome for the connoisseur of life
Review: This book succeeds in revealing the soul of the Eternal City called Rome. Choose a neighborhood from the introductory map and then read the suggestions for sites, restaurants and stores eloquently descibed for the location. I found new appreciation for obsure piazzos as well as famous sites. The collections of opinions gathered in this book helped me to see Rome as as Architect, Painter, Archeologist as well as the Landscape Architect that I am. I look forward to future additions about some of my other favorite cities.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: This is a small, wonderful book that is a pleasure to recommend to both the novice and experienced traveler. This is not a book for anyone in need of a step-by-step itinerary planner. Rather, this book provides a series of suggested angles and perspectives from which this magnificient city can be experienced and enjoyed. By way of City Secrets Rome, my wife and I found Vecchia Roma and enjoyed one of the great restaurant experiences of our lives. At La Taverna da Giovanni, I mentioned Danny Meyer's name and received personal greetings from the chef/owner and his mother and was gifted with a platter of fantastic green olives. Capitoline Hill is spectacular anytime, but perhaps especially at night. I could keep going. The beauty of this book is that it encourages one to step outside the tyranny of the "must see" approach and explore. I hope similar approaches for other cities are forthcoming.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Fun, Useful
Review: This is a wonderful travel guide, full of interesting insights (e.g. visit the Capitoline piazza at night; sprint through the maze of the Vatican museums to the Sistine chapel to enjoy a crowd-free half-hour there) and great restaurant suggestions with helpful comments on each one. In fact, you can buy the guide for the restaurants alone and not be disappointed. Each is described in detail with suggested dishes and pithy comments, and each is marked on the map. Marking restaurants on the street map is not usually done in travel guides, but is so helpful, because as you find yourself in a particular neighborhood yearning for a good meal you can simply turn to the page and locate a number of nearby eateries. This avoids the awkward and time-consuming ordeal of locating restaurants by street address. I fully concur with editor Kahn's priorities in mentioning the touristy Spanish Steps in a few lines, but spending six insightful pages on the stunning Borghese art gallery. This is not a stand-alone guide, as it lacks information on hotels and other important travel information (transportation, embassies, currencies, etc.), but it is a brilliant and useful tool for those who already have a standard guide book and would like a bit more, or for those who are already familiar with Rome.
Rating:
Summary: Five stars - but make sure you know what you're expecting.
Review: This is one good guide: maps are remarkable, size - perfect, and the external qualities: paper, binding, typeface - everything whispers this discreet attention to detail, solid and reliable and trustworthy. But please - do not take it as your only guide to Rome, for it is not meant for beginners, it is not a cheerful mainstream introduction. It will not give you most basic details or opening times or transport arrangements - just VERY subjective impressions, and suggestions from the people who know and love Rome professionally - architects, lecturers, artists. And however good maps are, perhaps you could do with a much more detailed one. I used a map from Eyewitness Guide, it worked very well together with this little book. Approach City Secrets Rome in an open-minded way, never expecting that it will give you exhaustive account of what to see, and you are in for a treat. I loved every bit of its confident, unassuming and at the same time unashemedly elitist writing. The author opens with a story how he was buying a box of cubans in Rome and how the price was too much for him, a poor soul. Well, in my humble opinion, a student who can afford a box of Cuban cigars is kinda more or less sorted for cash, thank you very much. This episode does set the tone and the register for the rest of the writing: no comparative dumpster analysis of Lonely Planet school there, and, most importantly, no Lonely Planet treatment of a foreign city like a cheap shop which deserves to have every bargain cheated, coaxed and squeezed out of it. You don't have to like the book's assumption that you should be able to afford any admission charge and a decent restaurant meal if you bothered to travel at all. So make sure this book's for you, and if it is - enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: the perfect "carry with you" guide
Review: While planning my third, and most recent, trip to rome, I researched with my "knopf" and "eyewitness" guidebooks.
But I also had this little gem of a book, "City Secrets Rome", that gave me the perspective of authors, artists, architects and historians and pointed out their favorite "sights" including a few shops and restaurants.
This book is an absolute must for anyone planning on a trip of more than a few days to this beautiful city.
Not only does it have the book divided into city areas, but each section is prefaced with a very detailed street map of the area, numbering the highlights of that particular chapter.
And, best of all, it is small, easy to fit in a purse, or simply hold, as I did, everytime I went "exploring".
I ran into several people that,upon seeing the book in my hand, shared their enthusiam for the book.
this third trip was the best, and now I'm looking forward to the fourth one, again with this book 'in hand'!
Rating:
Summary: the perfect "carry with you" guide
Review: While planning my third, and most recent, trip to rome, I researched with my "knopf" and "eyewitness" guidebooks.
But I also had this little gem of a book, "City Secrets Rome", that gave me the perspective of authors, artists, architects and historians and pointed out their favorite "sights" including a few shops and restaurants.
This book is an absolute must for anyone planning on a trip of more than a few days to this beautiful city.
Not only does it have the book divided into city areas, but each section is prefaced with a very detailed street map of the area, numbering the highlights of that particular chapter.
And, best of all, it is small, easy to fit in a purse, or simply hold, as I did, everytime I went "exploring".
I ran into several people that,upon seeing the book in my hand, shared their enthusiam for the book.
this third trip was the best, and now I'm looking forward to the fourth one, again with this book 'in hand'!
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