Although this book is a good basic overview of travel in Italy, it is written in an unnecessarily pedantic style. I found other travel guides on Italy to be much more reader-friendly and useful.

The great asset of the Cadogan series is the in-depth historical and cultural context that the authors set their desciptions in. While all of the usual nuts-and-bolts information on hotels, restaurants, nighlife, etc. is there, the emphasis is on really getting to know and appreciate the cultures you are travelling through, rather than just being able to name the Top 5 sights in each city and take home postcard shots of each. If you read this book, you'll come away with a whole new appreciation for the country and its people, and you'll understand why you've decided to travel there in the first place.

When some years ago I was given by an American friend of mine a copy of this guide, I soon noticed that many information (e. g. telephone numbers of museums, names of bus companies) on the area in Tuscany where I live were outdated. So I wrote the authors a short letter with new numbers, names etc. Two weeks ago I saw the 6th ed. of the guide in a Florentine bookshop, but the wrong numbers, names etc. were always the same! They were not corrected!!! I wonder why!

I've been to Tuscany ten times over the past decade and have always used Cadogan, to my mind still the best out of the scores of other guides that have sprung up since, including the Rough Guide. They may not always get the phone numbers right, but the authors' make each corner of this beautiful region come alive with their knowledge and witty writing. The new 6th edition has a greatly expanded section on the Marches-a lovely region that no other book in English covers very well at all.