Rick Steves Italy

Rick's guides are selec-tive, as he says in his introductions. He has a lot of details about places he does cover, but does not try to cover every place in a country. That's all there is to it; nothing sinister is meant by his omission of a place. (He likes Sicily, but as yet has not included it in his Italy guide). So, if you want to go to Perugia, you have to use another guide (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, Cadogan, etc). Having been to Perugia, I can tell you that while I liked it, it's a city, not a "town"; it certainly isn't what people are imagining as an "Umbrian Hill Town." If you're looking for small town ambiance, Perugia doesn't have it. Again, this is not a criticism, just a fact; Rome is my favorite place in Italy, but it's not a small town either.

Thanks for the reply Harold. I understand how Rick's guidebooks work. I have used his books for Italy, Croatia, France, Slovenia, Portugal, Spain, to name a few. If there is something missing from the guidebook I understand as you stated he is ive. That being said to leave Perugia out seems ridiculous/borderline absurd. Same goes for no Sicily. Even cities/towns that Rick/staff do not like or think are destinations worth the time they usually have a brief mention of the place. Something like "Industrial and if you have to stay these are some recommendations". Not even a mention for Perugia or even on the map. Again thanks for the reply and I'm going to take into account your ideas with regards to Perugia. We are in Italy for a month and have a house in Umbria and I am looking for day trips. Perugia seems like a place to go for the day as is Assisi, Cortona, Orvieto, etc....on and on. I may just have to write about my trip to Perugia and send it in to Rick. ;)

Heather, Based on my observations, Rick seems to focus on destinations that are the most popular with American tourists. One other factor may be that since his books are up-dated every year, at some point his researchers get to a "saturation point" and just don't have the time to get back to every location, so that limits the number of places he can include in the books. One of the easiest solutions would be to download a PDF version of the Umbria & Le Marche chapter of the Lonely Planet Italy book (10th edition, Feb. 2012). Cost is $4.95, and that covers Perugia. Happy travels!

Heather, please post your observations here when you go. My husband and I are going to be staying at a villa eight miles outside of Perugia for a month in September/October. It would be great to know some of the details, like food shopping, restaurants, bars, etc., even if Perugia isn't a "touristy" town. Have a lovely trip! lori

"Exactly. Over 1100 pages and not a word about Sicily or Sardinia, or many beautiful cities on the mainland. Lonely Planet somehow manages to do it." At the same time, Lonely Planet doesn't cover things in the way Rick Steves does. We used only a Rick Steves guide for our first trip to Europe, but now find we must supplement with other guidebooks because the Rick Steves books often leave out specialized sites that are of interest to us. However, the RS sense of the place is always accurate and helpful. I'm sure that is because they are ive. We call Lonely Planet an "unreliable narrator." We've gone out of our way to see things they list that don't live up to expectations. I'd rather see Rick Steves stay ive than try to cover everything. The company has a particular focus (largely drawn from the man himself) and it would be a shame to lose that. Those of us who know we need different information as well can get it elsewhere.

I hope you will have a chance to visit Spello and Gubbio while you are in Umbria; also Todi might be something you will like.

RS Italy 2013 is 1150 pages.

Exactly. Over 1100 pages and not a word about Sicily or Sardinia, or many beautiful cities on the mainland. Lonely Planet somehow manages to do it.

If you're close enough, make sure to go to San Leo and San Marino in the Le Marche region.

@Zoe, "Exactly. Over 1100 pages and not a word about Sicily or Sardinia" I suspect that there WILL eventually be a Sicily Snapshot or similar "mini-guidebook". RS tours issue these to tour members on their Sicily tour, so it wouldn't be hard to add this to their Guidebook catalogue. For some reason, they haven't ventured onto Sardinia yet, so the Lonely Planet or other Guidebooks are probably the best bet there. Cheers!

I think Rick Steves is a wonderful writer and an excellent teacher, and I really appreciate his sense of humor. His books can help set the mood for travelers, especially first-timers. But, even a note on transportation in and out of his not-favorite places would be helpful (and save some bucks on additional travel books). I'm just sayin'.

And BTW, for those of you who are wondering why some of these responses are missing some characters, this site will remove the characters "s e l e c t" when they are typed in sequence without spaces. I seem to recall that it does the same with some other words. Okay, back to the topic.

First encounter with Rick Steves/Europe Through the Back Door. I was home, sick with the flu. Bored. Probably 10 years ago! Nothing on TV, turned on PBS and there he was, explaining how middle class people could afford to go to Europe. Insisted to my husband that we COULD go! And we did! And again and again and again! We now rent apartments and no longer stay in his budget places, and bring along another couple to split the rent! I've seen London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Sicily......
Never would have done any of it without my first encounter, so thank you, Rick! I do not agree with his politics most of the time, and disagree many, many times with him about his choices of hotels and restaurants, and even cities sometimes, but never ever would have even believed I could go without his PBS show. I always buy his book pertaining to the country I am visiting, because his advice and info on websites to museums/transportation/sites is always spot on! Always saves me more money than the book costs! I also agree that he should write a book on Sicily (I'd be willing to help with that!) and Bless this Website, where we all share information and experiences.

Forgot to mention: Madrid, Barcelona,Toledo, Granada, Sevilla on the above comments!

No one guide book has to be all things to all people. Thank heavens for variety. I constantly recommend Rick's books to first-time American travelers to Europe. I owe him bigtime for demystifying the whole process and giving me the confidence and tools for our first trip to Italy, in September 2003. Now that we are preparing for our fourth trip to Italy, I have graduated beyond Rick's books but they will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you, Rick!

You would think there would be complete coverage of the areas that he has tours to. The skimpy supplement that I just got for southern Italy is really in need of a bunch of work. Sicily is a major destination as far as I am concerned, but there is no mention in the Italy book. Makes me wonder what his tour to Sicily would be like if there is little effort to include it in his main book.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him issue a Sicily book before too long for the very reason that he has tour groups going there.