The Rough Guide to Florence (1st Edition) - Softcover

Jepson, Tim; Buckley, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858284716 ISBN 13: 9781858284712

Publisher: Rough Guides, 1999

Synopsis

Provides information on sights in the city and includes reviews of accommodations, restaurants, shops, and clubs

About this title

About the Author

Tim Jepson is a travel writer for The Telegraph and is the coauthor of Rough Guides to Canada, the Pacific Northwest, and Tuscany and Umbria. A graduate of Oxford University, he frequently travels around the world.

Jonathan Buckley was editorial director at Rough Guides, where he wrote several guidebooks, including for Tuscany and Umbria, Florence, and Venice. He has also contributed to The Rough Guide to Classical Music and The Rough Guide to Opera. Buckley published his first novel, The Biography of Thomas Lang, in 1997, and has written several more, including the critically acclaimed Xerxes and The River Is the River. 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE EURO
Italy is one of eleven European Union countries who have opted to form an economic and monetary union (EMU) and, from January 1, 1999, is phasing in the single European currency, the euro. Initially, however, it will only be possible to make paper transactions in the new currency (if you have, for example, a euro bank or credit-card account), and the lira will remain the normal unit of currency in Italy. Euro notes and coins are scheduled to be issued at the beginning of 2002, and to replace the lira entirely by July of that year.

WHEN TO VISIT
Summer is not the best time to visit: the heat, and the log jam of tour groups, make viewing the major attractions a purgatorial experience - a two-hour queue for the Uffizi is not unusual. It's also worth noting that many restaurants, and some hotels, are closed throughout August. To enjoy your visit to the full, go there shortly before Easter or in late autumn, when the crowds become bearable and the city resumes its normal life. If you stay on for Easter itself, you can witness the Scioppio del Carro - the spectacular detonation of a cartload of fireworks in the Piazza del Duomo. Not that there's any shortage of special events during the rest of the year, from the high-art festivities of the Maggio Musicale to the licensed bedlam of the Calcio Storico, a series of rough-and-tumble football matches played in sixteenth-century costume during the last week of June.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858284716
• ISBN 13: 9781858284712
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352