Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47405 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

From Publishers Weekly
An antidote to the hulking volumes that offer encyclopedic amounts of information on a locale, McElroy’s book is designed more along the lines of a operating manual. There are no suggestions for where to stay in Capri or how to see the Vatican in a day. Rather, this book enlightens readers on the how-to’s of traveling in Italy: when to go, how to get there, what to pack, how to read road signs, which class to ride in on a train, how to use Italian phones, what to order for an aperitivo and why the tabaccaio is a resourceful shop, even if you don’t smoke. For first-time visitors, it’s a boon. McElroy, who spends a few months a year in Italy, explains everything travelers need to know in order to blend in and enjoy their trip. Each chapter is color-coded for easy reference, and Italian vocabulary words augment every section.
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Customer Reviews

Italy: Instructions for Use
taly: Instructions for Use* is a pocket sized travel guide for Italy. Unlike other travel guides however, this guide doesn't give information on specific sites and events in Italy. Instead, this book gives insider tips and hints to circumvent common tourist mistakes while traveling in Italy.

These hints and tips cover a variety of general subjects such as trip planning, travel issues, money, food, and shopping. These topics include the basics such as packing light, making photocopies of all important documents, and the benefits of cash machines. However, the majority of the book includes little gems that a traveler only learns after much trial and error. There are too many of these gems to list but some of my favorites include tips on making phone calls, hints on getting a good meal, and illustrations showing the various types of road signs. Moreover, the book is filled with quick pages of real use Italian vocabulary.

Though these tips are specifically meant for travelers to Italy, many of the more general tips and hints can be useful in other European countries. For instance, the tips on planning, packing, and airsickness are universal. Furthermore, issues of electricity voltage, cell phones, and cash machines may or may not be areas of concern depending upon the European country the reader intends to visit.

This book also contains several easy to use reference features. Little colored tabs on the separate each particular topic: Welcome to Italy; Getting Around; Keeping in Touch; Money; Eating and Drinking; Lo Shopping; Shipping and the Post; and Tourist Information. Furthermore, notes of greater importance are marked "Worth Noting" for useful little known tips and "Attenzione" for common tourist mistakes.

Italy: Instructions for Use is a good book to read before traveling to Italy. This knowledge will undoubtedly allow the reader to avoid many common tourist mistakes; save time and money, and reduce travel frustration. However, this book will also be useful as a reference for any potential problems or concerns once in Italy. This small book can easily be tucked into the tourist's hand luggage and pulled out when he or she forgets how gassing up a car is different in Italy compared to North America or can't remember how to order the house wine.

Skip the hard-learned lessons
My husband and I have been to Italy 3 times, the third with this book. Many lessons we've learned the hard way were confirmed by this book, along with some we hadn't encountered yet. This is a great book for first-time travelers, and still very useful for return trips. Topic-associated glossaries, specific coping techniques, and pocket size make it worth taking when you're packing light.

Fall in love with Italy
Nan went to Italy and fell in love. With this book as your guide, you will too.