Product Description: Bentley highlights 37 villages and towns, both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture. Page after page of Palmer's magnificent color photos evoke the beauty of the land. Specially compiled listings of hotels, restaurants, and festivals complete the tribute to Tuscany and its villages.
Amazon.com Review: With the recent popularity of such notable books as Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun and Elizabeth Romer's The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley, a legion of new Italia fans are finding out what many already know: the charm of Tuscany cannot be denied. In The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany, author James Bentley and photographer Hugh Palmer offer a decidedly unique view of this remarkable region. Focusing on thirty-six villages and towns from all over Tuscany--chosen for "both their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history and culture"--the gorgeous full-color photographs, accompanied by superb accounts of each village, truly "bring the region to life, evoking the richness of architecture and landscape, and bringing out the charm of the Tuscan people." The final chapter is devoted to useful travel information, including passages on hotels and restaurants, market days and festivals, as well as a select bibliography and detailed map of the region. As beautiful as it is informative and entertaining, The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany is "the perfect visual tribute to the timeless beauty of these small towns and villages."
beautiful villages of tuscany i orignially purchased this book as a resource for a paper i was doing on tuscany, but when i received it and began to browse through it, i sat down and read the entire thing from cover to cover. the photography was magnificent; the information was just the right amount without going on and on; the entire product was stunning. i wanted to run to the internet and book the next flight to tuscany!
Oh no, not another Tuscan picture book! Yes, the photos are nice, but how many coffee table books with pretty Tuscan villages, cypress trees, and silvery olive leaves shimmering in the wind do we need?
Someone who reviewed this book suggested bringing it along on a Tuscan trip; if you put this large and heavy book in your luggage, you will have to leave the toothpaste, underwear, and a number of other things at home, particularly now that some airlines are apparently toying with the notion of lowering weight allowances and charging for the excess.
The text in most instances is not particularly helpful. There are quite a few books on Tuscany that do a much better job. And I was truly surprised to see the town of San Quirico d'Orcia included in the list of "most beautiful villages". I happen to know San Quirico and because it is off the usual beaten tourist path, it retains an "Italianness" that has been lost by, for example, Greve in Chianti, where one would be hard-pressed to find an Italian in that town's lovely main square on a Saturday afternoon. But San Quirico could never be called "beautiful", by any stretch of the imagination.
Despite my reservations about this book, it would probably be a welcome present for a friend who has recently returned from the grand tour of Tuscany and it will, at least for a while, have a prominent place on this friend's coffee table.
Tuscany Great service and beautiful pictures of Tuscany but somewhat dissapointed at the lack of an organized route map for efficient traveling to the various villages.
Wonderful for so many reasons This is the best for someone wanting to visit interesting places in Italy. It is not only well arranged and written, but it helped so much in trip planning. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling on their own to Italy.
The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany Since I love Italy as a place to visit, this book is great to own.
Anything Goes Trivia
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Trevor
