Rating: 
Summary: Best guidebook on Rome
Review: Our first trip to Rome was a great success thanks in no small part to the "Rome (eyewitness travel guide)" by Oliva Ercoli, et al, Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. For example, the detailed street maps, located in the back of the book, allowed us to wander from the noisy and busy path of Rome's main streets and find our way around without fear of being lost. Additionally, Rome's many ancient sights were made easier to explore using the layered pictorial cut-away diagrams and descriptions in the book. The Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St Peters Basilica, and the Roman Forum are just a few of the sights covered in wonderful color and detail. The guidebook does not neglect practical local information either. Hours of operation, phone numbers, and other needed information on hotels, places to eat, local transportation, currency, etc, were most valuable in planning our activities. When touring, the size and weight were not a burden and the sturdy construction withstood daily use without damage. Almost like a bonus, the many beautiful pictures contained in this impressive volume evoked frequent pleasnt memories once we were back at home. In summary, I would recommend this colorful graphic and text rich guidebook as an excellent take-along reference for both first-time and veteran visitors to Rome. Buon Viaggio, Frank Criddle
Rating:
Summary: Great Travel Guide, Beautiful Coffee Table Book!
Review: Summary:
Every Dorling Kindersley Guide has been a great and interesting book... and delightful to have and use, even if you are not traveling to that location, but are only interested in learning more!The Guides are well organized in a logical and easy to follow manner. They are beautifully illustrated, well developed with accurate information (it is unusual for hotel and restaurant information to be that accurate), have enough history to help the reader understand the people and cultural background, and have a lot of useful travel information and useable maps in the appendixes. Specifics:
The guides are organized as follows: How to use this guide
Introduction to Historical and Geographical information
Geographical Regions
............Introduction / History of Rome
............Specific City Areas
........................Introduction to street by street area
........................Detailed pictorials of area buildings
........................Architectural drawings, pictures, cut-aways of buildings
........................Specific stops, historical monuments, churches, buildings, etc.
............Six guided walks Travelers Needs - includes full list with rankings and notes
............Hotels
............Restaurants
............Shops / Markets
............Entertainment
............Rome for children Survival Information
............Local Info.
........................Tourist info., Etiquette, Personal Security and Health
........................Currencies, Telephones, misc info.
............Getting to Rome
........................Planes, trains and automobiles, signs
........................general map, sectional maps with index
............Travel Info.
........................Maps, tours, currency, etc.
............General Index
............Phrase Book Discussion:
The book begins with "Introducing Rome", including a complete map, a review of Rome, Rome's history, and Rome thought the Year - including events, etc. Areas with an "At a glance" overview, then has subsections of specific blocks, or forums, then specific locations, churches, historical monuments, bridges, galleries, etc. The really great attraction to this book is several fold; it is:
............Very complete
............Easy to read
............Beautifully and artistically completed
............Good shopping, safety and other tips
............Gorgeous photographs too numerous to list. Architectural reviews include various views, and cutaways; given greater understanding and better perspective. They are all attractive, if not works of art - honestly. The travelers' Info. offers good and valid info. on prices, currencies, customs, important words, etc. I used the reviews on hotel's restaurants and nightclubs, etc. and found they were useful and accurate, and helpful with my touring and site decisions The books are so well thought-out that it has multiple maps, with various lookup tables, and the book's flaps are designed to be used as bookmarks for map pages. Conclusion:
Each book in this series is a great help, and beautiful collectible resource. As the President, CEO of an International Meeting Planning Corporation we have many resources and techniques to learn about places we have meetings / groups at as well as the cities and sights. But, as a traveler, this book really is top notch and I would recommend it to anyone going on a personal trip, or wanting to learn about a city, or location. We have used some of these books to augment our research to investigate cities for our groups.
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