Rome, Florence & Venice Guidebook

In Rick Steves Rome, Florence & Venice you'll find in-depth Rick-tested information on the best sights, hotels, and restaurants for:

• Rome
  • Including self-guided "Dolce Vita Stroll" from Piazza del Popolo to the Spanish Steps and "Heart of Rome" walk from Campo de' Fiori to the Spanish Steps, plus self-guided tours of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Imperial Forums, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Vatican Museums
• Florence
  • Including self-guided "Renaissance Walk" from the Duomo to Ponte Vecchio
• Venice
  • Including self-guided Grand Canal cruise and self-guided tour of St. Mark's Basilica
• Practicalities
  • Easy-to-follow maps, including color maps of each city's sightseeing core
  • ​Trip planning, including when to go, pre-trip checklist, and detailed tips for a one-week itinerary
  • City-specific tips on planning your time and avoiding lines, plus shopping and nightlife
  • Transportation: Trains, buses, city transit, and driving
  • Italian history, with handy timeline of key events and artworks
  • Translations of the Italian cuisine staples you'll see on menus
  • Detailed advice on managing money, communicating, reserving rooms, handling emergencies, and other helpful hints
  • Handy Italian survival phrases

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, you could supplement it 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).

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.