Piedmont

Sshhh, let's keep it that way.

Can't answer on behalf of Rick Steves, but I was in Turin visiting a friend and I agree it is a very underrated city. Nice city with great food, etc. Also, not very crowded in the summer. I was there in July and I stayed at a extremely nice hotel for a very reasonable price. I think comparable to the other cities of Italy it isn't as spectacular, but if you are close by, it is worth the visit.

I am increasingly concerned that the unRicked locales are being disclosed here. 😉

The best kept secret in Italy. Please keep it that way. Please!

So beautifully under touristed!

1) Rick's books are deliberately selective. They do not cover a whole country. The places they do cover, they cover in great detail; the rest they ignore completely.

2) What Rick covers is largely determined by his target audience. That's USers, on a first or second visit, with no particular "special" interests or knowledge, with limited time. The less a person fits this profile, the more they will want to deviate from Rick's books. For instance, on a first visit to Italy, people are likely to want to go to places they've heard of, like Florence, Venice, Rome, the lakes, the Amalfi Coast, etc - all covered in great detail in the Italy book. They are not likely to be visiting Piemonte, Emiliga-Romagna, or Puglia - not because these areas aren't worthwhile, but because they don't have the "brand name" recognition.

On this matter, Rick can't win. If he writes about a place, he's evil because he's "ruined" it; if he doesn't write about a place, he's evil because he's "ignoring" it.

3) Specifically for his Italy book, a staff member posted here that Rick's publisher has laid down the law: the book cannot be one page longer. If he were to add something, he'd have to take something else. out. More than one of us think he would do well to have two separate books, for Northern and Southern Italy (with Rome in both), but so far that's just our idea, not his. And if he were to do that, just wait for the complaints about the overcrowding in Basilicata and Calabria! He is coming out with a Sicily book soon.

No, I don't work for him. But an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of his books is key to using them well. I always supplement with other books and other resources.

I was in Turin about 20 years ago, and have fond memories of my visit there. What was most striking was how different it felt from other Italian cities. People talk about Sicily as feeling different from the rest of Italy; I found Turin felt even more different than Palermo did!

I completely understand that what Rick Steves chooses to cover is driven by perceived consumer interest. But with that in mind, it would seem to me Piedmont would merit more coverage than such destinations as Bulgaria, Bosnia- Herzegovena, Wales or Durham and in Italy than the Dolomites or even Ravenna. Moreover, its location, surrounded by Switzerland, France, the Italian Lakes, and the French and Italian Riviera, make it a central point for a more extensive vacation trip.

It's the Catch-22 of travel. Many, many travelers are alarmingly incurious. People go to places they have heard of and it's really hard to convince them otherwise. Just look at what some people will endure to visit Cinque Terre even though they know next to nothing about the place.