Does this Rome, Florence & Venice guidebook cover these three cities any differently than Rick's separate guidebooks for each city?
Yes: The separate Rick Steves guidebooks for Rome, Florence, and Venice offer more in-depth sightseeing information, several additional self-guided city walks and museum/sight tours, and more specifics on shopping and nightlife, plus suggestions for kids. The separate city guidebooks also include thorough coverage of several day-trip options for each city (and the Florence & Tuscany guidebook offers extensive coverage of the rest of Tuscany). Other information is generally the same, as this three-city book includes nearly all the hotels, restaurants, and nitty-gritty practical advice for each stop that you'll find in each city book. If you don't expect to be spending at least four days in each city, the three-city guidebook is all you need.
What's the difference between this Rome, Florence & Venice guidebook and Rick's Best of Italy book?
Our full-color Best of Italy guidebook covers several destinations beyond Rome, Florence, and Venice (such as the Cinque Terre, Naples, the Amalfi Coast, and hill towns of central Italy), but doesn’t cover the three main cities in as much detail as this black-and-white three-city book.
If your itinerary includes one more destination or region beyond Rome, Florence, and Venice, you could supplement this book with a second book specific to the region, such as Rick Steves Pocket Cinque Terre or Rick Steves Sicily — but if you think you'll be visiting much in Italy beyond the three biggies, it'd make more sense to travel with either Best of Italy or our complete Rick Steves Italy guidebook (which covers these three cities in exactly the same level of detail as the three-city book, plus all our other favorite Italian destinations beyond Sicily).
