Rating: 
Summary: Italy minus the magic
Review: While it's hard to argue with all the positive comments here, I have to say I found this guide a major disappointment. Steves says he's giving you "only the best" of Italy, but what he really means is that he covers only the most obvious, tourist-trodden destinations. I carried the book with me on a three-week trip, and before the end of the first week I'd grown tired of looking at the tour buses everywhere I went. If you want to step off the beaten path (meaning really off the path, not to Steves' "finds," which have been in every decent guidebook for half a century), you're on your own. (He pretends that Sicily doesn't even exist. Amazing.) And the restaurant recommendations follow suit -- tourist traps. I got in the habit of looking into the places he suggested, just to make sure I wasn't missing something, but didn't eat in any of them after the first couple of days. Time and again it was the same thing: a room full of American customers and tired-looking Italian waiters with painted-on smiles.This book might suffice for a first-time, "greatest hits" trip to Italy, but even then, everything is so predictable that there are few chances for magic -- unless you put the book down and try to find out what Steves is missing.
Rating:
Summary: Italy minus the magic
Review: While it's hard to argue with all the positive comments here, I have to say I found this guide a major disappointment. Steves says he's giving you "only the best" of Italy, but what he really means is that he covers only the most obvious, tourist-trodden destinations. I carried the book with me on a three-week trip, and before the end of the first week I'd grown tired of looking at the tour buses everywhere I went. If you want to step off the beaten path (meaning really off the path, not to Steves' "finds," which have been in every decent guidebook for half a century), you're on your own. (He pretends that Sicily doesn't even exist. Amazing.) And the restaurant recommendations follow suit -- tourist traps. I got in the habit of looking into the places he suggested, just to make sure I wasn't missing something, but didn't eat in any of them after the first couple of days. Time and again it was the same thing: a room full of American customers and tired-looking Italian waiters with painted-on smiles. This book might suffice for a first-time, "greatest hits" trip to Italy, but even then, everything is so predictable that there are few chances for magic -- unless you put the book down and try to find out what Steves is missing.
Rating: 
Summary: strange biases
Review: While many people hail Rick Steves as a guru of european travel,
we were disappointed by two of his books on a recent trip to
Provence and to Tuscany, and soon learned to distrust his
recommendations. Some examples:
- he strongly recommended against driving into Pisa, saying it
was a nightmare. In fact, we drove off the Fi-Pi-Li freeway,
parked across the street from the town for 2.50 euro, snapped
some fun photos, and drove off. Easily one of the most
efficient parts of the trip, and surprisingly fun to see.
- he didn't say great things about Carrara-- again, a highlight
of the trip to see marble mountains, visit a live quarry and
tour inside a mountain, surrounded by giant rooms of marble.
The souvenirs were some of the best we took back, including a
sculptural interpretation of the Bodicelli's Birth of Venus,
which two sculptor-friends lauded as being a quite impressive
little piece. (obviously mass-produced from marble-dust, not
hand-carved)
- he panned the hilltown of Bonnieux, Provence as having little
to see there-- we adored it as one of the highlights of the
trip, wishing we arrived early enough to enjoy more of the
shopping. FYI it maybe expensive for your taste, but it was
beautiful and relaxing.
- he spends little or no effort on shopping, and too much time
on restaurant and hotel reviews. My fiancee loves clothes
shopping, and I love food shopping -- he covered little of
either. Meanwhile, we didn't care about hotels since we were
renting a villa (italy) and a exchanging our home (france).
- IMHO he spends too much time (pages) fussing over details of
specific hotels and restaurants, rather than covering more of
them in a simple list of ones to try and ones to avoid,
perhaps with a few words only. As a result, he covers a tiny
percentage of what's available, choosing what to cover at
random, often missing real gems. The best meal we ate in
Provence wasn't listed in his guide.
- the Provence restaurant and hotel scene seems to be changing
quickly in response to Parisian tourists but a glut of rooms.
I'm skeptical that the reviews are up-to-date in his (or any)
travel guide. This is in stark contrast to great travel books like Lonely
Planet's guide to India, which proved unbelievably valuable
in finding out-of-the-way places and avoiding problems when
I went in 1996. As with any travel guide, it pays to browse online first
(use amazon to read some sample pages)-- there are different
ones for different types of travelers-- from cheapskate travel
to luxury, student to drive-by tourist. This review is written
by someone who prefers to do less and see more, spending a week
in one place and avoid the big, touristy spots (hence the shock
of Pisa). Finally, we also brought Frommer's, which wasn't much better,
nevermind the Amazon five-star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent recommendations, unique insights, but...
Review: With the deficiencies listed below, this guide would normally warrant a star less than the four I gave it, BUT, Rick Steves' recommendations are exemplary, unique and most of them keep you away from the hordes of tourist that often plague Italy in the Summer. This guide truly has unique vignettes that separate it from the glut of guides on Italy. When I was in Venice, I used Rick Steves' guide and it lead me to an interesting Gregorian Mass at San Giorgio Maggiore Church. Rick also dutifully told me what to do if one of Venice's pigeons take a dump on my head (you grin, but think this not strange for Venice has tens of thousands of these strategic bombers). In this guide you will find selected venues that most other guidebooks completely omit, but alas, going off the beaten path you will often miss out on the tour buses, fat ladies with sun hats, trailed by the downcast husband with a camera as a dog-tag around his neck. Drats! The index is grossly anemic and the maps are hand drawn, giving you only a basic idea of where you are in Italy. Also, this is not a complete guide to Italy. Rick Steve is selective and omits a significant portion of Italy, areas which I found fascinating, such as Bergamo. "Rick Steves' Italy 2001" includes: Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, Lake Como, The Dolomites, Cinque Terre and five hill towns. If you are going to any of these areas specifically then Rick Steves' guide would be a welcome addition, along with a more comprehensive guide such as Frommer's Italy. Recommended
Rating:
Summary: Good 'Ol Rick!
Review: With this book and our Blue Guides to Tuscany and Northern Italy, we had everything for a successful 2 week trip. Rick's recommendations for sights to see, how to get reservations, and lodging were superb and right-on-the-dot! There are also guidebook updates on his website. At a small hotel in Orvieto, we actually ran into one of Rick's guides, who was staying in all of the hotels he recommends--just to see what they are like. They do this every year for each guidebook. Indispensible information. Rick's wry sense of humor is also a delight!
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