[.ca] Eating in Italy Revised & Updated: A Traveler's Guide to ... (ISBN 0688146147)

From Amazon.com:
Grab this book and your forchetta (fork) and head to Italy for a tantalizing tour of tastes. Faith Heller Willinger is an American living in Italy who has devoted her taste buds to sampling and reporting on the best Italian kitchens have to offer. If you think Italian food equals pizza and spaghetti, the variety of offerings found in the 11 northern regions explored in this book will astound you. Each regional section begins with helpful explanations of Italian dishes from local menus. Next, the wine and food specialties are temptingly presented with interesting tidbits about production methods and historical origins. For example, grissini, yard-long breadsticks of the Piemonte region, were first made in 1668, when "the Savoia court doctor, Don Baldo Pecchio, had the court baker whip up some crunchy, thin and easily digestible breadsticks for the sickly Prince Vittorio Amadeo II, who suffered from 'intestinal fevers.'" Each section is finished off with a listing of restaurants and inns, organized by city. If you aren't sated yet, Eating in Italy also provides gelato flavors, a key to Italian opening and closing hours, types of pasta, wine terminology, and a food glossary.

Great book but here are some gotchas:
I made 3 trips to Italy last year and it looks like I might be repeating my stunt this year. This book has been my faithful companion because I care very much about where I eat and what I drink. It is a great book and I stongly recommend it. A few gotchas: 1) Lots of other tourists now use this too. In big cities, you'll probably find lots of tourists (typically American) at the restaurants listed. Nothing wrong but FYI. 2) Quite a number of typos. The latest one I found is on pg 46 for the single "inn" listed for Alba. Their fax number should end with 112 and not 122. I pity the guy at 122 who must be so tied of being called. 3) A little out of date. This book was published some time back so it really doesn't talk about some new and very hot restaurants whether in a place like Florence or a place like San Donato in Chianti. 4) Does not cover the South (Amalfi, etc). Warning warning. I will try Fred Plotkin's book on my next trip to the south.

Best Food and Wine Book I've Ever Found!:
This is the best and most consistent travel book I have ever found. We are going to France this summer and I can't bear planning the trip without F. Willinger's help. I am in the wine business and my other half is a chef, we are very hard to please when it comes to eating and drinking. In three weeks, we did not find one restaurant recommendation that was not right on the money and superb. There were even fantastic and unusual regional wine suggestions. Not only was the food and wine information terrific, but the descriptions of the owners and the restaurants' atmospheres were perfect. I give this book to all my friends who are planning a trip to Northern Italy. I only wish that F. Willinger would write about other countries and regions. I spent hours enjoying the book before we left. Never has planning a trip been so much fun. Don't go to Northern Italy with it!

An Indispensible Guide to Northern Italian Eateries:
I've made something like ten pleasure trips to Italy in the past decade, and for me, this is easily the best dining resource IN PRINT. In this Internet age, there are additional ways to garner some information about Eating in Italy, but it you aren't too interested in the "new, hot, trendy" etc., this is definitely money well spent. There are other books I draw upon, including Sandra Gustafson's "Cheap Eats In Italy," Maureen Fant's "Trattorias of Rome, Florence, and Venice," and the guides from the Time Out series. But kilo for kilo, this is the one I use most frequently, especially if you wander away from Rome-Florence-Venice. Many of her recommendations also pop up (as citations) in some of the better travelogues--- for instance her writing is cited in books such as "The Collected Traveler-- Central Italy" collected by Barrie Kerper and the recently issued "Piazzas and Pizzas-- the Adventures of the Clean Plate Club in Italy." Worth every penny, Euro, or late, lamented Lire that you spend.

An Indispensible Guide to Northern Italian Eateries:
I've made something like ten pleasure trips to Italy in the past decade, and for me, this is easily the best dining resource IN PRINT. In this Internet age, there are additional ways to garner some information about Eating in Italy, but it you aren't too interested in the "new, hot, trendy" etc., this is definitely money well spent. There are other books I draw upon, including Sandra Gustafson's "Cheap Eats In Italy," Florence Fabricant's "Trattorias of Rome, Florence, and Venice," and the guides from the Time Out series. But kilo for kilo, this is the one I use most frequently, especially if you wander away from Rome-Florence-Venice. Many of her recommendations also pop up (as citations) in some of the better travelogues--- for instance her writing is cited in books such as "The Collected Traveler-- Central Italy" collected by Barrie Kerper and the recently issued "Piazzas and Pizzas-- the Adventures of the Clean Plate Club in Italy." Worth every penny, Euro, or late, lamented Lire that you spend.

A Great Gastronomic Guide to Northern Italy:
When I arrived in Florence in June 1998, I did not even know the name Faith Heller Willinger.I came across the book Eating in Italy by chance while visiting a bookstore. It looked promising enough and I bought it. For the rest of my month in Northern Italy, this book became an essential guide. How else would I have known which gelato is the best in Venice? Which restaruant is really a must when you visit Sirmione in the lake district ? My secret for discovering Italy's best food was in following this book, both its "do's" and its "don'ts". When I failed to follow a "don't", I came to regret it. Having the book with us in the car was essential in making this visit a gastronomic experience. My only regret was that in the concluding part of the trip, in Rome, I didn't have Faith Willinger with me (the book only covers Northern Italy). By now I also own Willinger's cookbook (Red, White and Greens), and folllow her food columns on the Internet. She is for sure a great resource for enjoying the fabolus food of Italy.