Best-Kept Secrets of Italy Hardcover – Illustrated, 14 Aug. 2014

I am/was a frequent visitor to Italy so thoroughly enjoyed this armchair trip round the country to remind me of how beautiful it is. (For clarity, the version I bought is by Gordon Kerr – the same book, but listed as being by Tamsin Pickeral, also seems to be listed on Amazon at the moment.)On the plus side, for what it is, it’s excellent value for money at £15.00. Divided into six sections covering every region of Italy (North West, North East, Central, Rome, Southern Italy and Islands), each page has one or more photos with a short descriptive paragraph.On the negative side, the photos are often quite small and they are all stock photos from a variety of photo libraries – Alamy, Getty Images, Shutterstock, etc - so the quality of detail and lighting varies. Some of them seem to be suffering from saturation where the colour is too bright/garish and so they look slightly unnatural. The variability is most noticeable on the first page of every section where there are thumbnail prints of all the photos in that section together on one page. I don’t think this is unreasonable given the price point, but this might not be what you are expecting if you want something a bit more glossy or heavyweight.It could also do with a map showing the places mentioned – I found myself having to constantly Google this or other place name while reading to find out where was being described.The blurb on the inside cover says ’Exploring sights both familiar and little-known…’ so the title ‘Best-Kept Secrets’ is perhaps not wholly accurate either. For example, the section on Florence (in the Central Italy section) features the Duomo, Galleria degli Uffizi and Ponte Vecchio. Overall though, despite my quibbles, I enjoyed this book.

We've got quite a few books on Rome which cover the major attractions. I was hoping that this would provide some coverage of those places that only the locals know, but it doesn't, it mainly lists the primary attractions. Fine if you want that, but we didn't.

A Christmas gift for the couple who have everything. They really loved it and have already planned two touring vacations based on the content, the first on just a few weeks away.

A beautiful book, stunning pictures and a great buy, I'm delighted. Excellent thank you.

Lovely pictures . Wish I was there

Fantastic Book.

Beautiful book. Bought as a present for someone who loves travelling around Italy.

It is a Christmas present so I haven't passed it on yet