One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in Italy (Rizzoli Classics)

Note this detail in the publisher's description: "now in a popular pocket-size format." Its trim size is just 8.25"-by-8.25", a perfect square. (Small, though hardly pocket-size.) If you plan to tuck the book in your suitcase, this is the version to buy. But if you'd prefer a taller, more sumptuous version, ideal for your coffee table, with the same photos 25% larger, you might prefer the second-listed version, published in 2004, with a trim size of 10.25"-by-12.5". This heftier version resembles two other big coffee-table picture books on Italy that are even more mouth-watering: "The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany" by Bentley & Palmer, and "The Most Beautiful Country Towns of Italy" by Bentley and Ramsay.Because Milan journalist/photographer Paolo Lazzarin covers so many towns here, his treatment of them is necessarily brief. Typically, for each one he offers a page of text and, opposite, a handsome photograph of one of the town's highlights. Some towns, like Siena, enjoy two additional pages of photos. The book is probably most useful to readers planning a first or second trip to Italy. It serves up a scattering of charming towns that are extra-extra-special for one reason or another (not just for their beauty). Some of them, like the magical hill town San Gimignano, might later prove a highlight of one's entire trip, ranking right up there with Florence or Venice. At the front of the book is a map showing the 20 regions of Italy, making it easier to visualize a proposed itinerary, and at the back, an appendix lists, by region, lots of useful addresses & phone numbers--of recommended hotels, restaurants, tourist information offices, and shops.As with other Rizzoli publications, the photographs, on glossy paper stock, are crystal clear, nicely varied, and often magnificent. The book is worth buying for the photos alone, but the commentaries are unfailingly interesting, too. A truly lovely volume, highly recommended.

The text is to the point, bringing uniqueness of each place, its rich history, traditions and fairs. Not every town will appeal to everyone. Where one sees nothing, the other sees a treasure.Nevertheless, the amount of the given information is appropriate for this kind of book. This is not a research book with all the details. For me the true gem of this book, are the foods and fairs listed at a lot of those places.For example, Aosta almost at the crossroads with France and Switzerland often is being discovered by accident. I happened to be there this past summer and one raises a question why it’s not so touristy with such historical heritage. I found the answer in this book – this remote Alpine town is not easy to find. In the ancient times it was strategically located to watch for the enemy coming from the Alps. Today such strategic location proves to be hard to find. I didn’t know that Aosta had Sant’Orso Fair until I read it in this book. However, the book states that originally it was during the last two days of January and nowadays it’s on August 15. The official website of Aosta states that it is still during the last two days of January.For most of the places, the pictures show the true spirit of the city. For example Alba, the city of truffles, shows it clearly with its market selling truffles. However, for example, the picture of a street in Merano doesn’t show the true spirit of the town and I know it, because I’ve been there myself. The town is known for its healing resorts and vineyards rolling down right into the town.I was very surprised to see Verona in this book, which is not a small town. Bolzano is not a small town neither, but has so much more charm being nestled in the Alps with vineyards extending to the town. This town gained popularity, when the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology was created to host the Iceman found in the Alps.Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it or buy it again as a gift.

This book is a lot smaller than I expected. The pictures are pretty, but the text is very small. The caption text under the pictures is so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read it (maybe a size 6 font?) I bought this as a gift for a friend going to Italy and was somewhat disappointed.

This book so easily covers the many beautiful villages, areas, parts of Italy and is worth having for any future planned trip. And I remember back decades during my first visit to Italy....Highly recommended!

"101 Beautiful Small Towns of Italy" is not a guide book in the strict sense of the word. It is a wonderful coffee table book you should always keep there in order to browse through and get pleasure from the beautiful photos of all those beautiful towns. It is divided according to historical regions of Northern, Central and Southern Italy, as well as the islands. It gives you a host of the facts about the history and culture of the towns. And their histories are so entertwined, you get the history of Italy in miniature.But the book also gives such extensive information about what to see in these towns and around them, what and where to eat, where and what to shop for,as well as a lot of advice about places to stay, that you really can use it as a guide book.Highly recommended for everybody who enjoys travelling and beautiful photography.

Got this book for my dad for his birthday. The pictures were gorgeous, but he definitely cannot read the fine print font they included. Even I had trouble reading the different descriptions.

It was purchased as a gift so I didn't really read it. I thumbed through it, though, and it looked interesting. Good photography and lots of it, and nice quality paper. The cover to the book I bought was somewhat scuffed, but that wasn't the books fault.

If you are a fan of Italy or grew up there, read this. My father was born and raised in a small town there, and this book made us so happy.

Stunning book and a fantastic gift for any Italy lover.

A beautiful book, planning trips to the places I haven’t seen and enjoying remembering the ones I have. It fits through the letterbox although the packaging could be a bit more robust, the drop from letterbox to floor damaged the cover- not a gift so not too much of a problem

This book is great. Unfortunately written in small characters which is inconvenient when you grow old

Lovely book

Excellent- made our Italian trip more lovely- as we went lovely places we could have easily missed- all recommended places worth the visit!