ITALY: Instructions for Use

The compact, color-coded, illustrated handbook packed with the most current, pertinent, easy-to-locate info available. Because it concentrates solely on the practical aspects, the Instructions contains a host of specifics the other guides simply don’t have the expertise or space to include. It’s like traveling with an expert in your pocket.

The Portable, Practical Guide That Started It All

“I’ve been traveling in Italy for over 20 years and seldom do I find a book as useful and eye-opening as Italy: Instructions for Use.

–Martha B., About.com’s Italy for Visitors

Italy: Instructions for Use, the first book in the Instructions for Use Travel Europe series, paved the way, receiving accolades from professional reviewers such as Publisher’s Weekly, and was selected About.com Italy for Visitors’ #1 pick for Top Ten Guidebooks of the Year. Now comes France: Instructions for Use, an illustrated, pocket-sized guide packed with the most current, pertinent, easy-to-locate advice available. Because it’s the only guide that focuses solely on practical information, France: Instructions for Use contains many extra, specific details the other guides simply don’t have the room to include.

Title Information

Title: ITALY: Instructions for Use
Subtitle: The Practical, On-site Assistant for the Enthusiastic (Even Experienced) Traveler
Authors: Alison Culliford & Nan McElroy
Classification: Travel / France
Published by: Illustrata Press, Joe Shaw, editor
ISBN-13: 978-1-885436-306
Price: $14.95
Format: Original Trade Paper, four-color
Dimensions: 4.25” x 5.5”, 120 pages
Pub Date: revised, May 2007
Illustrations: 4-color illustrations
Binding: Smythe-sewn

About the Author

Nan McElroy was working as a voice talent and Avid film and video editor when she first traveled to Italy in 1995. She was astounded by the country as a whole, as are most people, and yearned to have a conversation in Italian beyond the cost of a panino or the location of the duomo. Renting her condo during 1996 Atlanta Olympics gave her the opportunity to return to Bologna for an extended period to study the language, where she continued to notice the lack of access to and understanding of the most fundamental information concerning how Italy functioned (where do you buy a pair of scissors, anyway?), the kind that’s critical to any traveler who has so little time.

She returned to Italy for significant periods during the following decade, based in Bologna, but traveling throughout the country, improving her language skills, making friends and absorbing the culture. With the advent of the digital camera, the moment arrived to create the publication she wished she’d had on her first trip: something concise, current, well-organized, portable, accessible, thorough — and easy on the eye. Enter the highly-portable, Italy: Instructions for Use.

This tiny gem has found its niche, and now Nan — who relocated to Venice in 2004 — along with other collaborators and in-country co-writers, continues to pursue the same mission: to compile the valuable, practical information that regular guidebooks are unable to include, and to make that information available as directly, clearly, and economically as possible.

Italy: Instructions for Use is the indispensable compendium that’s as elegant as it is useful, containing all the information the other guides simply don’t have the space or expertise to include. From preparation to the return flight home, the Instructions provides just the information you need, at the moment you need it. Just remember…

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