Official Review: Florence in Two Days by Enrico Massetti

[kayla1080]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Florence in Two Days" by Enrico Massetti.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Author Enrico Massetti wrote this quick-read travel guide on general points of interest to visit in Florence in the span of two days (exactly what the title suggests). Florence in Two Days appeals to anyone already in Italy and has a couple of days to kill. Massetti uses a beautiful cover photo of Florence, and most of the photos throughout the guide are helpful references (except some photos are a little fuzzy).

Massetti goes right into it with quick, straight-to-the-point instructions on what to do before going to Florence. It was helpful, but I wish there would’ve been some kind of foreword or opening paragraph. I also think it would’ve been nice to show a map to get a general sense of the places you’re visiting and distance between them.

Florence in Two Days starts you out with a view from the Piazzale Michelangelo, then takes you along to some churches, famous art pieces, palaces, and plazas. The reader is then launched into lunch suggestions and ratings from TripAdvisor with GPS coordinates of the restaurants. But I wondered...are the GPS coordinates necessary? When were the TripAdvisor reviews pulled? I was also curious as to what kind of food each restaurant had and maybe short explanations/reviews describing the places.

After lunch on that first day, you visit the Old Bridge and get the history along with some of the other points of interest that you visited in the morning, which I would imagine help you gain your bearings. I liked the description of the Loggia del Mercato...Florence truly has breathtaking and unique structures, which comes through in the photos. However, I never figured out what a “loggia” was. The tourist ends the first day at “Via Tornabuoni”, the most elegant street in Florence.

Second day:
The reader starts out at a church, then visits a “Ospedale degli Innocente” which I think might be an old hospital? Then the visitor goes to a couple more places including the Accademia- the place where Massetti told you to book your tickets before planning anything else in Florence. For lunch, the author offers two pages full of options (names of restaurants, TripAdvisor ratings, and GPS coordinates). He probably could’ve cut some of that out.

After lunch, the reader/tourist goes by more churches, including the Brancacci Chapel. Then you visit the Santo Spirito, (a gorgeous building), make a few more stops, then end the two-day tour at the Gardens of Boboli, which was my favorite part.

The author offers some options for gelato/dinner, which should’ve been split out as the TripAdvisor ratings and structure of how Massetti listed the restaurants was kind of overwhelming. The guide ends with helpful resources on airlines and trains, but I think where Florence is in relation to Rome, Venice, Milano, etc. should’ve been mentioned in the beginning.

A few pages were dedicated to the parking situation, which makes me think that I’d never want to drive there. A mention of “send text messages to 488 0105” was kind of confusing- even if you are using a computer tablet, wouldn’t you still need a country code?

Here are some strange quirks of the guide:

• Fort Belvedere looked like a cool place to go, but there was a mention that it was closed from 2008-2013 after some fatal accidents. I thought this was kind of a strange comment since there was no additional disclosure.
• Massetti talks about finishing the morning of the first day at the Piazzale degli Uffizi, but shows a photo of it at night which I thought was a bit out of sequence.
• There was a weird photo of the author at the end.

This book had some interesting tidbits but I think I need to know Italian a little better to truly understand some of the terms in this book as they were not well explained. I also noticed some run-on sentences, spelling, and grammatical mistakes.

I rated this book 2 out of 4 stars because I do feel like I know a little bit more about Florence and now have an idea of some places I’d like to visit if I go there.

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Florence in Two Days
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Like kayla1080's review? Post a comment saying so!

[tangoitalia]

kayla1080's review:
"The reader is then launched into lunch suggestions and ratings from TripAdvisor with GPS coordinates of the restaurants. But I wondered...are the GPS coordinates necessary? When were the TripAdvisor reviews pulled? I was also curious as to what kind of food each restaurant had and maybe short explanations/reviews describing the places"
comment:
The GPS coordinates are instead the phone number of the restaurant.
The link to the TripAdvisor review is provided to access the info of what kind of food each restaurant has and the extensive explanations/reviews describing the place.

[kayla1080]

Hi tanoitalia,
Thank you for the clarification. It wasn't clear to me that those were phone numbers. I know that this guide is meant to be viewed on a tablet where you click into the TripAdvisor links, I just wish there was a little more information on the front end.

Thanks again for your reply,
Kayla