Suggested alternate Guidebook for the Piedmont/Aosta region

I have Lonely Planet. They cover just about all of Italy, and have lovely pictures to boot. The downside is that they tend to be short on hotel and restaurant recommendations (assuming that is important to you) often giving only 2-3 suggestions where RS would give you 12 or more. Plus it is short on the logistics, giving no info on things like "The museum is closed on Tuesday" or how much tickets cost, nor any money saving or time saving tips. They do however give lots of ideas for planning your itinerary. Like a 10 day north western tastes of Italy tour that starts in Cinque Terre, goes to Asti, Alba, and finishes in Turin.

You might try your local library as well, they usually have several updated guidebooks. Check them out and decide if they are right for you before you waste money on a guidebook you wont find useful.

I'll second the recommendation for Lonely Planet. I bought it when I went to Bologna.
It also had lots of good info about many other areas of Italy and Sicily that are not covered in RS tour books.

There is a plethora of info available online. For example, below is the official tourist office of the Piemonte region:
http://www.piemonteitalia.eu/en/-turismo.html

You can find even more by googling a specific city (like Turin) or town (like Alba) or area (like Langhe or Monferrato) followed by the word "Turismo".

I don't use guidebooks anymore for planning my accommodations or restaurants. I know use the internet for all of that. If I need I print the pages that are relevant.

Rick Steves caters to the independent traveler who travels to a country for the first time for 3 or 4 weeks. So like someone who goes to a restaurant and chooses an appetizer and a couple of dishes s/he likes from the whole menu, he chooses a few places that HE likes best that can be fitted in a 3 week trip.

Obviously Piedmont did not make Rick Steves' cut for the top places in Italy he would include in a 3 week trip to Italy. Others may think otherwise.

Lonely Planet is good. I like the Cadogan series but don't know if they are still in print. Michelin guides are good, too, but not as good as they used to be.

Just wanted to thank everyone for the information. It's helped me 'fine tune' our November trip.