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The best guide to Italy, updated everyyear The great sights -- the historic cities and Tuscan and Umbrian hill towns, plus the lakes, coasts, and islands Walking tours to piazzas and palaces, churches and museums Wine roads, mountain drives, canal cruises, southern sojourns Seaside hiking, country biking, golf, skiing, boating Where to buy leather goods, antiques, jewelry, ceramics Where to stay and eat, no matter what your budget Rooms with a view -- Renaissance villas, pensions and farm stays, stylish city finds, resorts and monastery retreats Chic city restaurants, rusticosterie, family-runtrattorie, seaside fish eateries, piazza cafes, pizzerias, andgelaterie Fresh, thorough, practical -- off and on the beaten path Costs, hours, descriptions, and tips by the thousands All reviews based on visits by savvy writer-residents 65 map pages, 43 vacation itineraries, 33 city tours Smart Travel Tips Fodor's Choice What's Where Pleasures & Pastimes New & Noteworthy Festivals Background essays Italian Vocabulary

About Our Writers Each year the Gold Guides are written and updated by more than 500 resident writers
New This Year Keeps you up to the minute on recent changes
Connections Resources for Travelers
How to Use This Book Describes organization, icons, and other key information
Don't Forget to Write Tells you how to get in touch with our editors
The Gold Guide: Smart Travel Tips A to Z An easy-to-use section divided alphabetically by topic
Under each listing you'll find tips and information that will help you accomplish what you need to in Italy
You'll also find addresses and telephone numbers of organizations and companies that offer destination-related services and detailed information and publications
Destination: Italy Helps get you in the mood for your trip
New and Noteworthy Cues you in on trends and happenings
What's Where Gets you oriented
Pleasures and Pastimes Describes the activities and sights that make Italy unique
Great Itinerary Helps you make the most of your time in Italy
Fodor's Choice Showcases our top picks from special restaurants and one-of-a-kind accommodations to out-of-the-ordinary sights and activities...
Let them inspire you! Festivals and Seasonal Events Alerts you to special events you'll want to seek out
The following destination chapters in Fodor's Italy '99 are arranged geographically
Each city chapter begins with Exploring information, which is divided into neighborhood sections; each recommends a walking or driving tour and lists sights in alphabetical order
Each regional chapter is divided by geographical area; within each area, towns are covered in logical geographical order, and attractive stretches of road and minor points of interest are indicated
Rome Florence Tuscany Lucca, Siena, Chianti, and the Hill Towns Venice Venetian Arc Padua, Verona, Vicenza, and Palladio Country Italian Riviera Genoa, Portofino, and Cinque Terre Piedmont/Valle d'Aosta Milan, Lombardy, and the Lakes The Dolomites: Trentino--Alto Adige Trento, Rovereto, Bolzano, and Cortina d'Ampezzo Emilia-Romagna Parma, Bologna, Rimini, and Ravenna Umbria and the Marches Perugia, Urbino, Spoleto, Assisi, and Orvieto Campania Naples, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast Apulia Bari, Brindisi, and the Gargano Promontory Sicily Sardinia Portraits of Italy Italy at a Glance: A Chronology, "The Artless Art of Italian Cooking," by Nancy Coons, "The Passionate Eye: Italian Art Throughout the Ages," by Sheila Brownlee, Books and Videos Italian Vocabulary
Index Maps
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Pleasures and Pastimes

The Art of Enjoying Art

Travel veterans will tell you that the endless series of masterpieces in Italy's churches, palaces, and museums can cause first-time visitors -- eyes glazed over from a heavy downpour of images, dates, and names -- to lean, Pisa-like, on their companions for support. After a surfeit of Botticellis and Bronzinos and the 14th Raphael, even the miracle of the High Renaissance may begin to pall. The secret, of course, is to act like a turtle -- not a hare -- and take your sweet time. Instead of trotting after briskly efficient tour guides, allow the splendors of the age to unfold -- slowly. Get out and explore the actual settings -- medieval chapels, Rococo palaces, and Romanesque town squares -- for which these marvelous examples of Italy's art and sculpture were conceived centuries ago and where many of them may still be seen in situ.

Museums are only the most obvious places to view art; there are always the trompe l'oeil renderings of Assumptions that float across Baroque church ceilings and piazza scenes that might be Renaissance paintings brought to life. Instead of studying a Gothic statue in Florence's Bargello, spend an hour in the medieval cloisters of the nearby convent of San Marco; by all means, take in Michelangelo's David and Slaves in Florence's Accademia, but then meander down the 15th-century street, a short bus ride away, where he was born. You'll find that after three days trotting through museums, a walk through a quiet neighborhood will act as a much-needed restorative of perspective.

Of course, there may be many art treasures that will not quicken your pulse, but one morning you may see a Caravaggio so perfect, so beautiful, that your knees will buckle.

Il Dolce Far Niente

The idea of vacation was probably invented by some hardworking Roman emperor and, ever since, the Italians have been fine-tuning what they call il dolce far niente -- the sweet art of idleness. Today, even relaxing can feel like a chore, but thanks to Italy's opulent villas, picture-perfect coastal resorts, and dreamy hill towns, you can idle here more successfully than anywhere else. But it takes more than trading in a silk tie for a T-shirt; you have to adjust to the deeper, subtler rhythms of leisure, Italian style. Hours spent over a Campari in a sun-splashed cafe; days spent soaking up the sun on the Amalfi Coast; an afternoon spent painting a watercolor on the shores of Lake Como: You may be pleasantly surprised to find that such pursuits prove more beneficial than forced marches through the obligatory sights. The luxury is often in the lingering.

Dining

In Italy, cookery is civilization. In the days of the Roman legions, pundits used to say, "Ubi Roma ibi allium" (Where there are Romans, there is garlic). Ever since the days of the Caesars -- when emperors quickly learned the wisdom of "Stomaco pieno, anima consolata" (Full stomach, satisfied soul) -- Italian chefs have taken one of life's sensory pleasures and made it into an art, and today you can feast on an incredible array of culinary delights. Of course, Italian food has come a long way since the days when Horace, the great poet of ancient Rome, feasted on lamprey boiled in five-year-old wine, the liver of a goose fattened on figs, and apples picked by the light of the waning moon. But you can still enter restaurants in Bologna, enjoy a dish of tortellini, and be told, "Anche Dante le ha mangiate cosi" (Dante also ate them this way). In fact, the newest trend in Italian cooking is to serve up the old -- the simple, rustic, time-honored forms of cucina simpatica, rustica, and trattoria -- with a nou
velle flair.

You have a choice of eating places, ranging from a ristorante (restaurant) to a trattoria, tavola calda, or rosticceria. The line separating ristoranti from trattorie have blurred of late, but a trattoria is usually a family-run place, simpler in decor, menu, and service than a ristorante, and slightly less expensive. Some rustic-looking spots call themselves osterie but are really restaurants. (A true osteria is a basic, down-to-earth tavern). At a tavola calda or rosticceria, prepared food is sold to be consumed on the spot or taken out; you choose what you want at the counter, and pay at the cashier. An enoteca is a wine bar where you can order wine by the glass or bottle; most have tables, and many serve savory, light meals and nibbles. A caffe (coffee bar) serves those beloved coffee drinks replicated abroad, plus sandwiches, pastries, and other snacks. Tell the cashier what you want, pay for it, and then take the stub to the counter, where you restate your order, and then drink and eat standing at t
he counter. Remember that table service is extra, almost double; don't sit at a table unless you want to be served.

Shopping

"Made in Italy" has become synonymous with style, quality, and craftsmanship whether it refers to high fashion or Maserati automobiles. The best buys are leather goods of all kinds -- from gloves to bags to jackets -- silk goods, knitwear, gold jewelry, ceramics, and local handicrafts. The most important thing to keep in mind when shopping in Italy is that every region has its specialties. Venice is known for glassware, lace, and velvet; Milan and Como for silk; the Dolomites and the mountainous regions of Calabria and Sicily for hand-carved wooden objects; Florence for straw goods, gold jewelry, leather, and paper products; Naples for coral and cameos; Assisi for embroidery; and Deruta, Gubbio, Vietri, and many towns in Apulia and Sicily for ceramics. Unless your purchases are too bulky, avoid having them shipped home; if the shop appears to be reliable about shipping, get a written statement of what will be sent, when, and how.

Excerpted from Italy '99: The Complete Guide with the Cities, Lakes, Tuscan Hills and Baroque and Renaissance Treasures, by Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. Staff
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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Fodor's 1999 Italy

Fodor's 1999 Italy

0679001395

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