As much as my day job is all about beauty and fashion, my passion is travel. My blog started out as a beauty blog with insider information about beauty products and trends. Then I noticed that the posts I included about travel in Italy were gaining stratospheric numbers of followers. It contains detailed itineraries and allows you to tailor your trip to suit your interests, making it a strong contender for the best Italy guide book. Whenever I buy travel guide books they tell me about things to do in a given town or city, but they don’t tell me how to put a trip together.

They all speak in a very corporate voice that is completely impersonal, and they don’t really care if you love a place or not. I love the culture, the history, the art, architecture and music, the food the wine and above all, the people. I grew up in New Zealand and have lived around the globe on continents and islands and in some of the most exciting cities in the world. At this time I live in the wild beauty that is Arizona, where every sunset seems more spectacular than the one before and 9 months of the year the weather is perfect. (The other 3 months are a little toasty) They frequently tell me they don’t want to be on a big bus tour or want more time than 5 hours in a city while on a cruise. Others will tell me they are booked on a cruise but don’t know how best to spend their time in a given city when their time is so brief.I spend as much time as possible in Italy each year. As well as my personal travel, every summer I take small groups of women on boutique, private Glam Italia tours . You’ll find that some guidebooks tend to be more visual, with plenty of images and diagrams and less written content, while others are text-heavy and rich in information. Others include handy extras such as maps. A licensed guide can take your good travel experience and make it truly outstanding. They always know 1000 x more than just the tour they are taking you on, and pepper your experience with endless anecdotes and insider secrets, point out so many little details you would never otherwise notice and can answer every question you could ever think up. On top of crafting an amazing experience specifically for you and your little group they will also tell you about the best places to stop for an aperitivo, a coffee or a meal.

I write books about my greatest passion in life, traveling in Italy. Every day that I’m not in Italy I am daydreaming about being there. Plan to spend a little time in the markets and boutiques, do some Christmas shopping, and treat yourself to something special. Just make sure you leave some room in your suitcase for shopping in Florence! 10. Follow The Medici When selecting the best Italy travel guide for your preferences and interests, there are several important considerations you should take into account. My favorite areas in Florence are on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio in the area known as Oltrarno (other side of the Arno river). image of Oltrarno streets via MagicPlanet.com This one is a no brainer – of course you are going to visit Santa Maria dei Fiore, the Duomo of Florence. This one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and I recommend you walk past it as many times as you can while in Florence!It includes fully planned out Itineraries and detailed histories to helpful tips, suggestions, and information. Worried all you’ll do is line up for gondolas? Searching for nooks and crannies most tourists miss? Can’t face a sweaty bus and endless selfie stops? Corinna Cooke is a private tour guide specializing in exclusive trips to Italy and has spent more than half her life traveling to Venice. Now she’s here to share how you can escape the crowds, open up the inaccessible, and make your experience totally memorable. DK Eyewitness travel guides give you the best picture coverage of any guide book. Through its compelling images, this travel guide transports you to your destination before you’ve even left, giving you a tantalizing taste of what’s to come! Florence is small and safe and you can’t really get lost, so be sure to go explore! RELATED POST: The Piazza Hidden Behind The Duomo Is Not To Be Missed! 3. Visit Basilica Santa Croce

When my son was 12 I really wanted to take him on a beach vacation. My one stipulation was that I wanted to be able to sit on my balcony and have a view of the ocean, and be able to hear the waves as I fell asleep at night. I tried to find us a place at the beach in San Diego but everything was so completely out of our price range, so we went to Sicily instead! I really want people to see that a trip to Italy can be incredibly affordable and you don’t have to be wealthy do it. enjoying – or planning – the trip of a lifetime. In Glam Italia! 101 Fabulous Things To Do In Venice , you’ll discover: Do you want to see the glamorous side of Italy but think it’s out of your budget? Does preparing for international travel leave you feeling anxious? Do you worry about falling into a tourist trap? Italian travel guide and blogger Corinna Cooke has years of experience creating glamorous private vacations throughout every corner of the country. And now she’s here to share her insider tips so you can make the most of your Italian adventure. For almost half a century he has spent ⅓ of every year traveling around the continent, and he’s made it his mission to make travel in Europe accessible to Americans.

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Florence is the city of the Medici. This family was not only responsible for the Italian Renaissance art movement but also the Renaissance architecture of Florence.