Italy Guidebook

In Rick Steves Italy you'll find in-depth Rick-tested information on:

• Venice and nearby
  • Padua
  • Vicenza
  • Verona
• Dolomites
  • ​Bolzano
  • Castelrotto (Kastelruth)
  • Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm) and sights nearby
• Milan and the lakes
  • Lake Como
  • Lake Maggiore
• Cinque Terre and nearby Riviera towns
  • Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore
  • Levanto and Sestri Levante
  • Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino
  • Porto Venere and La Spezia
• Florence and nearby
• Pisa and Lucca
• Siena
• Volterra and San Gimignano
• Heart of Tuscany
  • Montepulciano
  • Pienza
  • Montalcino
  • Heart of Tuscany Drive
• Assisi
• Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio
• Rome
• Naples
• Pompeii and nearby
  • Herculaneum and Vesuvius
• Sorrento and Capri
• Amalfi Coast and nearby
  • Positano, Amalfi Town, and Ravello
  • Paestum
• Practicalities
  • Self-guided walks and museum tours
  • Easy-to-follow maps (including color maps of Italy, Venice, Florence, Tuscany & Umbria, and Rome)
  • ​Trip planning: When to go, pre-trip checklist, festivals and holidays, recommended books and movies
  • Recommended three-week itinerary and city-specific advice on planning your time and avoiding lines
  • Transportation: Trains, buses, city transit, and driving (including route tips)
  • Italian history, culture, language, and cuisine
  • Handy Italian survival phrases
  • Detailed advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints

Also included: a 14½" x 19½" full-color foldout Planning Map that shows all of Italy plus regional close-ups of Lake Como, the Dolomites, Cinque Terre, and Amalfi Coast, and, on the back, handy city close-ups (with major sights) of Rome, Venice, Florence, and Siena. (Note: This is a slightly smaller version of Rick's stand-alone Italy Planning Map.)

What's the difference between this Italy guidebook and Rick's Best of Italy guidebook?

Rick Steves Italy, the complete guide, offers more coverage of more destinations in a mostly black-and-white format.

The shorter Rick Steves Best of Italy guidebook focuses on Italy's top destinations and sights, is in full color, and is updated a little less frequently than the complete guide.

Both books are packed with hand-picked recommendations and Rick's travel advice and tips for saving time, money, and hassle.

Should I get the Sicily guidebook in addition to this Italy guidebook?

Yes! If your trip includes Sicily, you'll also want to bring Rick Steves Sicily, as it's the only Rick Steves guidebook with any information on Sicily.

Should I get the Rome, Venice, and/or Florence & Tuscany guidebooks (or any of the Pocket guides) in addition to the complete Italy guidebook?

If you're not spending more than a few days in any major city, Rick Steves Italy is all you're likely to need.

If, however, you're spending four days or more in the same city, the extra information in a single-city/region guidebook can we worthwhile. Compared to the corresponding chapters of the Rick Steves Italy guidebook, our full-size guidebooks for Rome, Venice, and Florence & Tuscany offer more in-depth sightseeing information, several additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, more detail on day-trip options, and more specifics on shopping and nightlife, plus activities for kids. Other information is generally the same — for example, the Rome chapter of Rick Steves Italy has nearly all the hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for Rome that you'll find in the Rick Steves Rome guidebook. Likewise, Rick Steves Italy includes coverage of most of the same Tuscan towns (except Cortona), and the same practical advice and hotel and restaurant listings that you'll find in Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany. Rick Steves Florence & Tuscany, however, has more in-depth sightseeing information for Florence, Siena, and Pisa, as well as extra information on Florence's shopping, nightlife, and kids' activities.

It would make less sense to supplement Rick Steves Italy with one of the smaller Pocket guides for Rome, Venice, or Florence. Each does have one or two walks and museum tours that aren't included in the related chapters of Rick Steves Italy, but otherwise they offer far more limited coverage of each city's sights, hotels, and restaurants. (Our Pocket guide to the Cinque Terre, however, has no more advice — except for its foldout map of the region — beyond what you'll find in the Cinque Terre and Italian Riviera chapters of Rick Steves Italy.)

Should I get any of the Snapshot guides for Italy in addition to the Italy guidebook?

No, because the various Snapshot guides for Italy are simply excerpted chapters taken directly from the complete Rick Steves Italy guidebook.

Latest updates: When we learn of critical changes to the information in our guidebooks on Italy, we post them. (Of course, it's still smart to reconfirm critical transportation and sightseeing details locally.) Armed with a Rick Steves guidebook and these late-breaking updates, you're set for a great trip!

Submit feedback: Once you've used this book in Europe, we'd love to hear your feedback — good or bad — about our advice on sights, hotels, restaurants, and travel tips. We're also interested in any tips or discoveries you made while in Europe. Your comments help us improve our guidebooks for future travelers.