Download Blue Guide Rome (Tenth Edition) (Blue Guides) ePub

This book is very handy when we are in Rome every year for about six weeks as a general guide. The book is laid out in a very logical manner, focusing on the major monuments and themes. The Blue Guide presents succinct historical background and useful visiting info in a very clear, concise, engaging and portable volume. There are thoughtfully laid out walks around some of the more interesting parts of Rome. The index, little maps, floor plans, and illustrations are very useful. I do not always have very fast internet connections, so I am able to consult this when I need factoids and dates for my blog or when planning a day's adventures.

There are guidebooks with many pages of hotel, restaurant and shopping recommendations. Those "recommendations" exist mainly because the business owners have paid (or they have purchased a "special edition" of the book). The Blue Guide eschews this dubious practice. There are people who go to Rome for the shopping, who only like modern art, who want to spend many nights in clubs and discos, and who are horrified at going into a church or museum. They will miss much of this astonishing city, which has been at the center of European and Mediterranean civilization for millennia. Almost every one of Rome's hundreds of churches, museums, palazzi and piazzas in Rome merits its own book, or at least a full chapter somewhere, but such a level of detail would be impossible to wade through. The old adage "To see Rome, a lifetime is not enough" is still true.

My only wish for this book is that it would be available as an e-book, but it is still portable. If you are going to Rome for the average visit of 3.2 days, you may want to buy this one and also the companion "Concise" volume to carry around with you.

The guide to Rome for anyone who wants to know more than the basics. New edition is in color, contains lots of plans, diagrams, etc. but is a bit heavier than earlier editions. Good maps in the back. Opening hours are as accurate as they can be in Rome. It is about the city, its history, the art, and architecture. Not about shopping, hotels, fun with kids or where to find McDonald's. A must have for a deeper understanding of the city. Perfect for historians, art historians and archaeologists.

]I must confess that some of the reviews for the Blue Guides leave me a bit puzzled. If you know what you are in for, this is one amazing book.

To begin with, I suppose that there are two different kinds of guides: Those that help you plan your trip, and those that will aid you during your trip. Some try to do both and do so with some level of proficiency. Few do both really well. Some do one really well.

My go-to guides for those that will help me plan my trips are the Eyewitness Guides. My first trip to Rome was as a fourth-year PhD student in 2005. That Rome (Eyewitness Travel Guides) has gone back with me on each subsequent trip. It's concise, has decent pictures, user friendly maps. It would be fine for, say, the kind of person who goes into the Louvre in Paris and wants to see only the Venus de Milo, Leonardo's Mona Lisa, and the Hellenistic Winged Victory.

However, if you are the kind of traveler who wants to find the *other* great stuff in the Louvre; the Davids, the Delacroixs, Egyptian stuff, then The Blue Guide is for you. Many of my art history nerd budides have recommended these for years, and I've always stayed away. I'm an Eyewitness Guide man, dammit! But my Rome Blue Guide arrived today, and I am totally sold. Having read a few sections, I can say that the writing is engaging, lively, and while there are not hundreds of images, there are dozens, they are of good quality, and the floor plans and diagrams are excellent. The amount of detail and the thoroughness of the writing is fantastic. For example, San Clemente is a a real gem of an early Christian church (4th c.; the upper chapel is much older). My Eyewitness Guide gives it a single paragraph. The Blue Guide gives it five pages. Click on the "Look Inside" feature and peruse the Table of Contents. The proof of its thoroughness is all there. The few pages of maps in the back are fine (I don't really need them any more), but I would still get a Streetwise Rome (Streetwise) version if you are new to Rome.

The Blue Guide does not pretend to be both a 'before your trip' planning guide and a 'take it with you' guide. This is very much a book you will carry with you in and about Rome. And trust me on this: By the time you get to Rome, you will not care about the hotel section in your travel guide: you'll already have booked one! Need to find a place to eat? Ask the hotel. Or, if you are like me, bring along both books. I'll still bring along my trusty Eyewitness Guide. But the Blue Guide will be in the backpack far more often.

How amazing is this book? I am planning on teaching a History of Rome class at the university where I teach, and the Rome Blue Guide will be one of the required texts. It is a book that you will want to take with you on your trip, and it will prove well worth its $20 cost.

I liked this guide because it not only listed the attractions but also listed interesting things about them - i.e. who is buried there, famous artwork, etc. The book includes a map at the back of the book, but it would have been helpful to have a map that you can take out of the book (for those who plan to get around on foot) with the various locations marked on the map so you don't have to carry the book around everywhere.

Excellent guide to Rome. I recently spent a week there and good this book everywhere. The last day I went to the Vatican and hired a tour guide. There were 25 people in the group, but with the help of the Blue Guide, I didn't miss anything.

Perfect in every detail...seems to scant nothing of notable interest,and always respectful of the culture/history& architecture.

Two years old the guide seems nevertheless adequate to my planning needs.

May be a tad too deep for casual traveler. Ended up not finishing it because there was not enough time. But no doubt this is a great book and I recommend it if you are going to stay in Rome for a long time and can afford not to rush.

Blue guides are encyclopedic in their coverage of art and architecture. The newer editions have been printed on nicer paper, which is great looking but heavy. Still, an indispensable companion.