Drive Around Italian Lakes and Mountains, with Venice and Florence, 2nd; Your guide to great drives. Top 25 Tours.

by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers, Stillman Rogers with Paul Karr

• ISBN13: 9781841577807
• ISBN10: 1841577804
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-07-01
• Publisher: Thomas Cook Publishing

Summary

This guide divides northern Italy's lakes and mountain region into touring areas - one per chapter. Major cultural centres or cities form chapters in their own right. The scenic masterpiece of northern Italy's lakes and mountains is included, taking in the Renaissance splendour of Venice and Florence, and the glamorous resort towns of the Italian Riviera. Each chapter contains enough attractions to provide at least a day's worth of activities - often more - and has an introduction that sums up the main attractions and a ratings box. It is then divided into an alphabetical gazetteer and a suggested tour. In every chapter you will find lodging and eating recommendations for individual towns, or for the area as a whole. A locator map in the introduction shows the position of the tours. The tours include: Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, Milan, Lake Garda, Verona, the Dolomite Road, Venice, Padua, and Florence to Pisa. No touring holiday is complete without one of these essential guides. A great combination of guidebook and route map, they contain everything the self-drive traveller needs en route. It includes unique guidebooks for fly-drive travellers.

Table of Contents

About Drive Around Guides	p. 8
Northern Italy at a glance	p. 10
Introduction	p. 12
Travel facts	p. 14
Driver's guide	p. 24
Getting to northern Italy	p. 30
Setting the scene	p. 32
Touring itineraries	p. 40
The Valle d'Aosta and Turin: Spectacular Alps and green valleys	p. 42
Lake Maggiore: A lake shared with Switzerland	p. 54
Lake Como: Europe's playground since the Romans	p. 64
Milan: Smart, urbane and fast-paced capital of the North	p. 76
Bergamo and Lake Iseo: A charming old city with a secret lake	p. 86
Brescia to Mantua: Small cities most tourists never see	p. 104
Lake Garda: Castles, wine, watersports and fun in the sun	p. 118
Verona: Roman to Renaissance, Shakespeare to sopranos	p. 118
Valpolicella and Pasubio Valley: Visiting the vineyards	p. 128
The Alto Adige: Historic cities with a German accent	p. 136
The Dolomite Road: Dramatic mountain peaks and world-class skiing	p. 146
Eastern Dolomites: Tiny Alpine villages with big views	p. 154
The Borderlands: Longobards, Romans and Austrians all left their mark	p. 162
Venice: The world's most romantic city	p. 172
Eastern Alpine foothills: A land of little Venices	p. 188
Western Alpine foothills: Castles crown hilltop towns	p. 200
Vicenza and the Euganean Hills: The city Palladio designed and springs where Romans bathed	p. 210
Padua and the Brenta Canal: St Anthony's shrine and Venetian summer palaces	p. 222
Bologna to Florence via the Adriatic Coast: Along the Adriatic and across the high spine of Italy	p. 228
Florence: The undisputed queen of the Renaissance	p. 236
Florence to Pisa: Tuscany's other gems	p. 248
The southern Riviera di Levante: Holiday beaches and cliff-hung towns	p. 256
The northern Riviera di Levante: Smart resorts and quiet harbours	p. 264
Genoa to the French border: the Riviera di Ponente: Sand and scenery on the Mediterranean	p. 272
Language	p. 282
Index	p. 283
Feedback form	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

"Yet Northern Italy offers so much more than castles, canals, art and dramatic scenery. Hidden in its valleys and dotting its lagoons and craggy coast are stunning gardens, prehistoric carvings, Celtic and Longobard sites, medieval villages, fresco-painted buildings, towns devoted to a single variety of wine and tiny regions with their own unique cultures and even languages."

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Excerpted from Drive Around Northern Italy and Italian Lakes by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers, Stillman Rogers
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.