Florencewalks

By: Anne Holler

Narrated by: Maria Tucci

Florencewalks Audio Guide proves to listeners that much of Florence's art is found not only in her world famous museums but on her streets as well. Florencewalks takes visitors on four intimate walking tours, revealing the treasures that can only be fully appreciated by those on foot. The neighborhoods include Dante's Florence; The Streets of the Renaissance Princes; Markets, Bazaars, and Antiques; and the Artisans' Quarter. Stroll down hushed alleys permeated with the aroma of fresh spices and produce. Enter sun-washed piazzas flanked by churches, artisans' workshops, and grand palazzo. Each tour leads visitors through centuries of Italian history and architecture, showing them the undisputed charms of this lovely city and revealing the scandals and anecdotes buried in its vivid and volatile past.

These four intimate walking tours can take as little as two hours or as long as a morning or afternoon, depending on whether you stop at shops, museums, or cafes which are pointed out along the way. You can also listen to the tapes before you leave to help you plan your day in Florence and they will be an enjoyable reminder for you when you return.

©1999 Sound Travel (P)1999 Sound Travel

Disappointing, dated and needs maps

After enjoying Venicewalks, I was very disappointed with this one. Stories were not as interesting and seemed self serving to the author's interests, but I couldn't listen to all of it due to very poor location directions. Without the maps (which are refferred to constantly), I couldn't even find two of the starting locations, and got lost on one of the other walks. I am quite determined and wasted an hour retracing steps and skipping ahead - since it is obvious that some stores present when written no longer exist. The previous reviewers comments hit the mark regarding the need for indexing.

Don't waste your time with this. It may be worthwhile on tape - with the maps - but not on Audible.

Worthless in Florence

For this audio to be beneficial, two improvements must be made. 1) the author refers countless times to the map (not provided and should be), marked with points of interest and directions and 2) the audio should be broken into [tracks] of famous sites so that you can locate what you are seeing. Neither one is provided. The directions are impossible to follow without the map (which they provide to their cassette buyers) and it is one large file with no markers and no way of finding the point of interest that you want to visit. Terribly disappointing and useless.