This is a fun, funny, first-person narrative. As the author clearly states in the sub-title and text, this is travelogue-- NOT a guidebook (doesn't claim to be-- although it includes helpful information). It DOES report situations most visitors to Italy are likely to encounter. Just as the author did, from his experiences, based on stays in more than twenty cities, towns and villages, over a period of several years. As he says,
"Like a love struck youth, I gush excessively about these discoveries and experiences with others, because most of what I have to say isn't in any guidebooks. It's found in daily interactions with people and in piazzas, trattorie, cafes and streets.
And when something similar happens to you, laugh with recognition, and know that as strange as the experience may seem at the time, it's not out of the ordinary.
Even if the experience-- like so much of Italy-- is so extraordinary!"
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Witty, light hearted, P&P radiates a love for Italy, doesn't take himself (or fellow tourists) too seriously. Makes no claims of being a Know-It-All. Humorous, unpretentious, an independent traveler, opting for three star hotels (on a five point system), simple trattorias, utilizing trains and busses more often than taxis or rental cars.
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In describing the book, the author says, "What follows is a loose (emphasis on "loose") collection of reminiscences from these excursions," various annual visits to Italy beginning in 1994 for a few weeks at a time.
Since Amazon doesn't currently show the Table of Contents it's probably helpful for prospective buyers to know that these are the major sections:
* The Uncommonly Common Experiences-- chapters on everyday encounters with the customs and vagaries of life in Italy such as driving the Autostrada, "Getting By in a Foreign Tongue...Barely," deciphering signs at churches and elsewhere, and the "Attack of the Teenage Gypsy Pickpockets."
* Roads Less Traveled-- accounts of experience in less frequented cities and towns
including Milan, Parma, Cortina, Cortona, Padua, Lucca, Bologna, Arezzo, Cinque Terre, and Chianti
* The Big Three-- accounts of Rome, Florence, and Venice
* Afterword: Observations and Information: This I Have Learned So Far
Books, Films, Villa and Farm Rentals, Rants and Raves
additional excerpts:
"The drive to Venice was uneventful...lots of
jockeying for position and testosterone driven encounters.
"Yield" is a word that does not seem to translate into Italian..."
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" We were not prepared for the sight of Polish tour bus,
having come down a narrow one-way street only to discover that further progress along this road was not highly advisable..."
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"I try to laugh, but believe me, in my jet-lagged stupor, I'm
not in a laughing mood. I want to hide under the table, slink away into the darkness, to rip the table cloth from its place and cover my head. All for about L200 (a dime!). This trip is off to a grand start.
I am the Ugly American Tourist, personified."
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Or consider this excerpt:
"Why were we in McDonald's?
We certainly weren't there for the food. We were there because they have nice public restrooms. Good enough for Signore McBurglar and Mayor McFormaggio, and good enough for us."
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I can add that several of the the strategies the author mentions -- such as visiting the Accademia in Florence late in the day to avoid the line and crowds, AND brazenly using public restrooms in cafes and McDonald's (in five Italian cities)-- have worked for us time and time again. And many of the other encounters are also quite true. They may happen to you too.
The author acknowledges that different people will have different reactions to the same places and events. I well remember one complainer who loudly stated that he liked the food from the Olive Garden better than the Italian food he'd had during his visit. Go figure!
I enjoyed reading this book-- as a lively travel journal. Those expecting a guide book may not. This is no "Fodor's Guide," "Frommer's" or even "Italy for Dummies." It is an informative, breezy travelogue about what happens once you get there. Most of us can learn from his mistakes.
