Stephen Keeling - Frommers EasyGuide to Rome, Florence and Venice 2015

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ISBN 978-1-62887-070-1 (paper), 978-62887-071-8 (e-book)

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AN IMPORTANT NOTE

The world is a dynamic place. Hotels change ownership, restaurants hike their prices, museums alter their opening hours, and busses and trains change their routings. And all of this can occur in the several months after our authors have visited, inspected, and written about, these hotels, restaurants, museums and transportation services. Though we have made valiant efforts to keep all our information fresh and up-to-date, some few changes can inevitably occur in the periods before a revised edition of this guidebook is published. So please bear with us if a tiny number of the details in this book have changed. Please also note that we have no responsibility or liability for any inaccuracy or errors or omissions, or for inconvenience, loss, damage, or expenses suffered by anyone as a result of assertions in this guide.

A foreword to this Easy Guide to Rome, Florence & Venice

by
Arthur Frommer

Friends:

I was overwhelmed by my first contact with Italy. I was so affected by its visual sights that in a guidebook designed to deal with dry, dollars-and-cents matters (as my Europe on $5 a Day was initially planned to do), I grew lyrical in a chapter dealing with Venice. Arriving there by night, I wrote that little clusters of candy-striped mooring poles emerge from the dark; the reflection of a slate-grey church bathed in a blue spotlight, shimmers in the water as you pass by. I was literally turned on.

And the people! Unlike the laid-back, reticent, soft-spoken types of northern Europe (much like us Americans), here were those who wore emotions on their sleeves. I gloried in the sounds of Italy, in the excitability of shopkeepers, the shouts of merchants and customers, the warm embraces of friends meeting on the street, the happy seniors playing bocce balls in parks and open spaces, the swaggering fashionistas both male and female. I marveled at the giant Roman ruins, the elaborate statuary more numerous than in any other country, the resplendent churches with frescos by artists of genius. I loved the food, the endless varieties of pasta, the chiantis that accompanied the meals and the expressos that ended them.

For the first-time visitor to Italy, there is a classic itinerary that cant be equaled, and that forms the heart of this guidebook: Rome, Florence, Venice. While countless other areas, cities, and villages are almostthats almostas compelling, it is these magical three places that overawe all others, that can be easily reached by inexpensive train and will never fail to excite. From Rome to Florence is only 2 hours by express train, from Florence to Venice is another 2-or-so hours, and each city is an overwhelming touristic experience.

The highlights are, of course, legendary: In Rome, the Roman Forum best reached by first ascending the Capitoline steps designed by Michelangelo, the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona, the Via Veneto; in Florence, the original of Michaelangelos David in the Accademia Museum, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the Medici Chapels and the Ghiberti Doors; in Venice, the Piazza San Marco, the Ducal Palace and the Rialto, a ride by vaporetto along the canals.

And these and more are colorfully described and appraised in this book by three distinguished authors. Eleonora Baldwin, American-born but Italian-raised, lives in Rome, where she is one of the citys foremost experts on Italian cuisine and local restaurants. She is, among numerous other writing credits, the force behind the popular foodie blog Aglio, Olio and Peperoncino and Rome Every Day. What a joy to have her contribute so much to our chapter on hotels, restaurants, sights, and shops of Rome!

Donald Strachan, who lives much of the year in Italy, has written books and articles about Italy and Italian cities for more than 20 years; we spotted his work at an early time, and immediately enlisted him to prepare a great many of our guidebooks to Italy. Stephen Keeling, one of his two co-authors, is an Oxford graduate who has largely devoted his career to travel writing, and was awarded in 2008 a much-coveted journalism prize for Frommers Guide to Tuscany & Umbria. It would be hard to find a more knowledgeable and talented trio of travel writers on Italy, and we at Frommers are immensely proud of having Eleonora, Donald, and Stephen as our main partners to Italy.

Now, on your return trip to Italy, you may well decide to branch out to Milan and Bologna, Pisa, Siena and Lucca, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria, and you may also decide to use our 576-page Complete Guide to Italy, our Easy Guide to Florence & Tuscany, our Venice Day by Day, or several other Easy Guides to various Italian locations that will be appearing momentarily in the bookstores. Italy can support a lifetime of travel, and many avid travelers make countless repeat trips there. But for the three major Italian destinations covered in this book, we believe our Easy Guide approach will prove just the right thing!

From all of us at Frommers: Buon Viaggio!

Cordially,

Arthur Frommer

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Stephen Keeling has been traveling to Italy since 1985 (when a serving of gelato was 1,000 lire) and covering his favorite nation for Frommers since 2007. He has written for the Independent, Daily Telegraph, and various travel magazines, has authored the award-winning Frommers family travel guide to Tuscany and Umbria; and researched numerous travel guides in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Stephen lives in New York City.

Donald Strachan is a writer and journalist who has written about Italy for publications worldwide including National Geographic Traveler, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, and others; see www.donaldstrachan.com.

Eleonora Baldwin, American-born but Italian raised, lives in Rome, where she divides her time between food and guidebook writing. She is a foremost food and restaurant critic of Rome.

ABOUT THE FROMMER TRAVEL GUIDES

For most of the past 50 years, Frommers has been the leading series of travel guides in North America, accounting for as many as 24% of all guidebooks sold. I think I know why.

Though we hope our books are entertaining, we nevertheless deal with travel in a serious fashion. Our guidebooks have never looked on such journeys as a mere recreation, but as a far more important human function, a time of learning and introspection, an essential part of a civilized life. We stress the culture, lifestyle, history, and beliefs of the destinations we cover, and urge our readers to seek out people and new ideas as the chief rewards of travel.