Italy Guidebooks | Italy Heaven

Italy guidebooks – essential reading

If you travel to Italy without a decent guidebook, you will run the risk of missing important tourist experiences and attractions, and will probably waste a considerable amount of time attempting to research opening times and travel arrangements. The best guidebooks don’t just help with the practicalities of visiting major sights, they also provide good advice on more obscure places of interest, restaurants, and transport.

If you’re looking for a budget option, there are plenty of affordable guidebooks. If you really don’t want to spend the money, your local library probably has a selection of guides you can borrow. It’s also a good idea to photocopy essential pages, or print off website pages, to save carrying a heavy volume around with you.

Below you can find a selection of the best guidebooks available. By clicking on the cover or links provided you will open another window, where you can buy the books online from Amazon, usually at a reasonable discount, and have them delivered to your door. Links are provided to Amazon.co.uk, which is UK-based, and to the United States website Amazon.com – choose the site which is best for your location. If you can’t find the book you want, at the foot of this page is a searchbox you can use to locate it.

Lonely Planet Guides

These are good, thorough volumes which contain a wealth of practical detail. They offer full and condensed versions of their guidebooks for major Italian destinations, and also publish ‘theme’ books like ‘Walking in Italy’.

Rough Guides

Along with Lonely Planet, Rough Guides produce some of the best guidebooks. They have good coverage and provide detailed practical information to help you with trip planning. Rough Guides to Italy cover a range of destinations; they include the Mini Rough Guides which are handy for carrying about on a city break.

Time Out Guides

For a city break, it’s hard to beat the Time Out guides. Cosmopolitan and intelligent, they are the best source of tips on city life. Restaurants that are popular with locals, the trendiest bars, and a good range on the main attractions, both on and off the beaten path.

Cadogan Guides

Cadogan Guides are a great way of getting to know the stories behind the tourist attractions. Full of entertaining and bizarre anecdotes, they bring Italian destinations to life. Their strength lies in story-telling rather than practical detail; they work very well in tandem with a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet book, to help you get to know a destination better.