Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2007 (Rick Steves)
by Rick Steves, Gene Openshaw
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Book Summary Information
Author: Gene Openshaw, Rick StevesEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-09-07
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 388
Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing
Book Reviews of Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany 2007 (Rick Steves)
Book Review: Stick with the Rough Guide.
Summary: 1 Stars
I came across this in an apartment in Florence, wisely jettisoned by a traveler who had more useful things to carry in their luggage.
Steves' book IS quite good at the very practical nitty gritty of Florence: for example precisely how one collects pre-reserved Uffizi tickets, but his comments on cultural aspects are at best token and often stupid. Not everyone will want, like me, to know all about as much of the art as possible in a book about Florence, but for a travel guide to cover, say, Santa Croce and make reference to only one painting when the place is full of the most glorious and important fresco cycles by major figures is inexcusable. If the information is there, one can ignore it, but if it isn't, you might return to the US (the prime market, I imagine) and realise that you have been within yards of great paintings but the guide book didn't GUIDE you to go and look at them. Instead, in Santa Croce, he refers to admittedly interesting monuments, but fails to refer to the finest (Bruni's), he's only interested in the famous names.
His grasp of the art is very poor and he seems to address his readers as though they are 12 year olds needing asinine jokes to keep their attention. For him medieval painting is a world of never-neverland (his phrase) where the poor painters are struggling desperately to paint realistically but just can't do it! Simone Martine's Uffizi Annunciation is patronised: he can't see its beauty and sees it as a mere stone on the pathway to realism. Mary 'doesn't look too impressed': a good point if he only had the wit to see that perhaps the responsibility of her role is frightening and overwhelming - it's a very moving and human piece, but his approach seems to be,'Why try to elucidate when you can be folksy and jocular'. An early crucifixion is mocked for having Christ's head raised as on a wedge as though this is a pathetic effort at three-dimensionality when it is pretty obvious that the angle would enable viewers to see Christ's face (and suffering) more clearly from ground level and has little to do with aspiring to realism. He also says that the Siena Pinacoteca (a gallery full of wonderful Sienese painting) would tempt him in only if there was a downpour! (I dread to think what nonsense Steves writes about, say, Picasso, if REALISM is the criterion by which all is judged.)
A cardinal sin, for me, is the advice to 'leave this guide face up' in a number of restaurants to gain a reduction. When I travel I like to try to be as little like a tourist as possible, while still obviously being one. I know I stand out like a sore thumb, but Steves seems happy to be as obvious as an amputated leg. And what sort of arrangement leads a guide book writer to 'negotiate' deals for his readers? All very sad, especially as Steves seems to be the Guru of European travel for Americans.
The Rough Guide does everything Steves does well just as effectively, while the cultural stuff, whether great art, architecture etc or jazz clubs, bars, cinemas, clubs - is in another league. If you want a detailed guide to the art and history of the city, see Eve Borsook's Companion Guide: it has the art, the history and is a really good unfussy read.
Not even worth the one star the site requires me to give!
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