About ReidsItaly.com

ReidsItaly.com is devoted to helping you plan the best trip to Italy possible, with recommendations on sights, activities, hotels, restaurants, how to get there and get around, and all the little nuances of travel that can help make your next trip to Italy the vacation of a lifetime.

What makes ReidsItaly.com different?

There are a lot of travel information sites out there, and many guidebook publishers have heaved their entire catalog of travel guides onto the virtual shelf, but ReidsItaly.com is different.

For one thing, unlike at the big corporate sites, the publisher here also happens to be the same guy who wrote every word on this site: Reid Bramblett.

Yep, ReidsItaly.com is a one-man show: entirely written, designed, illustrated, and maintained by veteran guidebook author, travel editor, and adventure columnist Reid Bramblett.

What's more, the all the information here is based on the kind of personal experience you can get only from having lived in Italy as a child, and the expert advice from someone who has written guidebooks and magazine articles about the place for 17 years.

Add to that ReidsItaly.com's patented detailed itineraries, the interactive maps, tons of trip-planning tips, and advice, on everything from lodging options to sightseeing, that goes beyond the obvious—and beyond vacations.

What do I mean by Travel Beyond Vacations™?

You could spend your vacation in the deepest rut of the tried-and-true tourist path and have a fabulous time doing so, returning home with great snapshots of all the glorious sights. Or you could get out of those ruts and out of your comfort zone, get insights into the local culture, try something new, and end up having the trip of a lifetime.

Yes, this site will cover all the top sights, famous hotels, and renowned trattorie in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Tuscany. However, it will also combine tips, tools, advice, and resources to explore alternatives to the traditional in every aspect of travel, from lodging and transportation to sightseeing and experiences.

ReidsItaly.com aims to bring true adventure—whether cultural or physical, cerebral or culinary—back to the art of travel so that we can each return home from vacation with a richer, deeper understanding of wherever our travels take us.

What you'll find on ReidsItaly.com

ReidsItaly.com is focused on planning that trip to Italy, with emphases on money-saving tips and alternatives to traditional travel techniques, such as no-frills airlines, short-term car leases, sightseeing for free, and lodging options beyond hotels (agriturismo farm stays, bed and breakfasts, villa rentals, monasteries, campgrounds, apartments, and more)

I also cover all the other traditional aspects of Italian travel, outlining everything you need to know about trains and railpasses, rental cars and cruises, passports and packing, tours and travelers checks, itineraries and ATMs, safety and tourist offices, haggling techniques and health concerns.

And, yes, we'll cover good old-fashioned hotels, airfares, and sightseeing.

What's more, there are guides to all the major destinations—so far, Rome, Florence, Venice are nearly finished, and there's a good start on guides to Tuscany (including Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca, the Chianti, Pienza, and Montepulciano), Campania (Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, and Capri), and the Cinque Terre. More will be added as the site develops.

For each city or town, these guides cover the top sights, hotels, restaurants, and practical information on getting information and getting around—everything you need to know to have a fabulous time there.

ReidsItaly.com is still in beta

Note that this website is a work in progress and is still in larval form. Many pages are missing, others are only partly done—perhaps not yet illustrated, or with bits missing from the sidebar boxes and such.

(Speaking of which, for the record, "TK" is the shorthand we journalists insert in unfinished spaces to indicate that there is text yet "to come"...and yes, we realize the irony that writers, who really should know how to spell, have for some reason chosen to abbreviate "to come" as "TK"). The site is also riddled with typos, because I am a terrible typist. Sorry about that.

However, since there's still perfectly good info in here, I decided to make each page live as it gets finished (or at least partially finished). This way, you all get to share in the building of this site, and are welcome to make recommendations and suggestions of your own along the way by following us on Twitter and emailing to feedback@reidsitaly.com.

It's also cleverly crafted to look homemade through the widespread use of typos. (I prefer to view this as a shrewd marketing move rather than accept the truth that I just might be the World's Worst Typist, which is doubly embarrassing, considering that I'm a writer—and to make it truly pathetic, my handwriting is even worse.)

Reid's Italy travel tips on CNN

» Arthur Frommer's interview with Reid about ReidsItaly.com
» A lenghty Frommers.com interview with Reid about Italy

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