Italy Out of Hand: A Capricious Tour, by Barbara Hodgson

Retrieved from: Someone else's library
0811831469, 2005
Suggested by: me, when I cataloged it
My Ratings: 9 Merit, 8 Interest, 9 Fun

As noted in the subtitle, this is NOT a Fodor’s/Frommer’s book. Arranged by major city, it presents the ‘fun’ stuff to see in each location. Fortunately, what’s fun for Hodgson sounds fun to me too: lots and lots of history, not so much warfare and so forth, but art and some basic understanding of how the city got to be where it is. For instance, I’ve never quite understood what the doge in Venice was all about. Now I (sort of anyway) get it.

This is also a good book if you are a fan of the Grand Tourists of the 19th century: Byron, James, etc. They are scattered about liberally. Almost every page has a quote from someone literary.

Hint: it also helps to have read Dante.

But one of the totally best parts of the book is the ribbon book mark. I love these things. If I were in charge, every book would have one so you wouldn’t constantly be looking for some paper to shove in to mark your spot. And don’t they make you feel so...literary, too?

Oh, and restaurants and coffee shops that have been famous for centuries. Forget Starbucks when you can drink at a place that, when ordered not to serve anyone on premises (because a lot of revolutionaries plotted and schemed there), cut a hole in the wall and served carryout.