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Venice, Florence & Rome in 10 Days: Resource List

$2,995 + air

24-28 people

Begins in Venice and ends in Rome

This region is overwhelmingly rich in history, art and culture. Any preliminary reading, viewing or listening you can do will help you get the most from your trip. For a description of any of these books, visit amazon.com; for videos, go to imdb.com. Rick Steves guidebooks are available at our Travel Center in Edmonds and also on our website's Travel Store.

Recommended Reading

Non-Fiction: Venice
  • A History of Venice — J. J. Norwich
  • Venice: A Maritime Republic — Frederic Chapin Lane
  • Venice: Lion City — Garry Wills
  • Francesco's Venice — Francesco da Mosto
  • Venice Observed — Mary McCarthy
  • City of Falling Angels — John Berendt
  • A Venetian Affair — Andrea di Robilant
  • Venice: A Cultural & Literary Companion — Martin Garrett
  • A Literary Companion to Venice — Ian Littlewood
  • Venice: The Collected Traveler — Barrie Kerper
  • Strolling Through Venice — John Freely
Fiction: Venice
The Wings of the Dove; Italian Hours; The Aspern Papers and Other Stories — Henry James
Death in Venice — Thomas Mann
  • Invisible Cities — Italo Calvino
  • The Palace — Lisa St. Aubin de Terán
  • The Passion — Jeanette Winterson
  • In the Company of the Courtesan — Sarah Dunant
  • Dead Lagoon — Michael Dibdin
  • Dirge for a Doge — Elizabeth Eyre
  • Stone Virgin — Barry Unsworth
  • The Haunted Hotel — Wilkie Collins
  • Death at La Fenice — Donna Leon
  • In the Company of the Courtesan — Sarah Durant
Non-Fiction: Florence
  • The Prince; Florentine Histories — Niccolo Machiavelli
  • The City of Florence — R.W.B. Lewis
  • Florence: A Portrait — Michael Levey
  • The Stones of Florence — Mary McCarthy
  • Brunelleschi's Dome — Ross King
  • The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance — Peter Murray
  • Lives of the Artists — Giorgio Vasari
  • Italian Renaissance Art – Laurie Adams
  • The House of Medici; Florence: The Biography of a City — Christopher Hibbert
  • Fortune Is a River — Roger Masters
  • The Hills of Tuscany — Ferenc Máté
  • A Tuscan Childhood — Kinta Beevor
  • A Small Place in Italy — Eric Newby
  • Under the Tuscan Sun — Frances Mayes
Fiction: Florence
  • Romola — George Eliot
  • A Room With a View — E. M. Forster
  • The Passion of Artemisia — Susan Vreeland
  • The Sixteen Pleasures — Robert Hellenga
  • Birth of Venus — Sarah Dunant
  • Galileo's Daughter — Dava Sobel
  • A Rich Full Death — Michael Dibdin
  • Death of an Englishman — Magdalen Nabb
  • The Dante Game — Jane Langton
  • Bella Donna — Barbara Cherne
  • The Agony and the Ecstasy — Irving Stone
  • The Light in the Piazza — Elizabeth Spencer
  • The Decameron — Giovanni Boccaccio
  • The Birth of Venus — Sarah Durant
Non-Fiction: Rome
  • The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Edward Gibbon
  • Rome and a Villa — Eleanor Clark
  • The Seasons of Rome — Paul Hofmann
  • As the Romans Do — Alan Epstein
  • Eat Pray Love — Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes — Eamon Duffy
  • When In Rome — Robert Hutchinson
  • Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling – Ross King
  • The Pope's Elephant — Silvio Bedini
  • A Literary Companion to Rome — John Varriano
  • Rome Antics; City — David Macaulay
  • Travelers' Tales: Italy — Ann Calcagno
  • Marling Menu-Master for Italy
  • City Secrets: Rome — Robert Kahn
  • Culture Shock: Rome at Your Door — Frances Gendlin
Fiction: Rome
  • The First Man in Rome — Colleen McCullough
  • I, Claudius — Robert Graves
  • Roman Blood (mystery set in Rome in 80 BC, first in a series) — Steven Saylor
  • Silver Pigs (mystery set in Rome in AD 70, first in a series) — Lindsey Davis
  • Cabal (mystery set in modern Rome, third in a series) — Michael Dibdin
  • Angels and Demons — Dan Brown
  • Open City: Seven Writers in Postwar Rome — edited by William Weaver
General Europe Books
  • Europe 101 — Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw: History and art overview for the traveler; humorous and easy to read.
  • A World Lit Only by Fire — William Manchester: Vivid account of Europe's transition from the Roman Empire to the Reformation and the Renaissance.
  • Innocents Abroad — Mark Twain: Humorous classic recounts an American group's 1867 "Grand Tour" through Europe and the Holy Land.
  • Civilisation — Kenneth Clark: BBC-TV series and book that teaches European art and civilization like nothing else.
  • Connections — James Burke: Fascinating book and TV series that links historical events and scientific discoveries across the centuries.

Rick Steves' Travel DVDs

For a fun, informative preview of your next tour destination, watch a DVD from our "Rick Steves' Europe" TV series! Our online Travel Store has 80 shows available on 12 DVDs (a generous four to eight shows per disc).

Films with a Italian Accent

Venice: Only You (1994); Summertime (1955); Death in Venice (1971); Dangerous Beauty (1998); Bread and Tulips (2000); The Italian Job (2003); The Merchant of Venice (2004); Everyone Says I Love You (2005); Casanova (2005)
Florence: Prince of Foxes (1949); The Light in the Piazza (1962); A Room With a View (1986); Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991); Much Ado About Nothing (1993); Life Is Beautiful (1997); Tea with Mussolini (1999); Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Rome: Open City (1945); Bicycle Thieves (1949); Roman Holiday (1953); Three Coins in the Fountain (1954); Quo Vadis (1951); Ben-Hur (1959); Spartacus (1960); La Dolce Vita (1961); I, Claudius (1976 BBC miniseries); Gladiator (2000)

Mood Music

Three Tenors, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Puccini's Tosca, Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Verdi's Rigoletto, Ezio Pinza, Claudio Villa (opera); Andrea Bocelli (operatic pop); Zucchero (rock); Big Night, Three Coins in the Fountain (soundtrack)