This is a very useful guide, with just a couple of exceptions. It's organized into multiple itineraries, each focused on a theme - an architecture itinerary, a history itinerary, best cities, etc. The themes are good - well thought out and organized. The only issue is that some attractions fit into more than one itinerary, so they appear multiple times. There's one full description of the attraction, and all the other itineraries give a couple of lines and then refer you to a different page. So there's a moderate amount of page turning involved despite the organization into themes. This is unavoidable given the structure of the book and it's the only weak point.
The recommendations for both attractions and places to eat are quite good. Most of the descriptions are accurate and realistic. The description of Naples is a bit too forgiving of the amazing amount of litter and graffiti in the city, and there could be a bit more information to caution you about the risk of tourist scams there. There are good maps of many towns and of sights like Pompeii. The text even tells you what buildings or sections of museums are closed for renovation in 2009-10. There's a map of the Naples Metro which is confusing but then, the Metro itself seems to have been laid out by an absent-minded doodler. There should be a map of the Circumvesuviana rail network, since the book recommends using the train and it's a great way to get around the area or into Naples itself without a car. If you do drive, you need a better roadmap than the removablefolded one of the region that's included in the book. (Driving is not as scary as it's made out to be, at least if you're comfortable driving in Boston.)
The book is printed on heavy, glossy paper and it's bound well enough to survive lots of use and a week or two in your back pocket. It's part of a series; we also used the guide for Sicily, which was equally useful and well done.
