Walk and Talk Florence

By: Anne Holler

Narrated by: Maria Tucci

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Get ready for a one-of-a-kind audio experience: discover Florence through intimate, guided audio walking tours of the city's most historic and enchanting quarters. There are four guided tours for you to listen to as you walk through Florence, plus essential Italian words and phrases that every traveler wants to know.

Based on the acclaimed classic guidebook Florencewalks, and featuring an exclusive traveler's Italian tutorial from bestselling language instructor Dr. Robert Blair, Walk and Talk Florence offers the expert guidance that can make you feel at home in this enchanting city, helping you to speak the language as you enjoy the history and beauty of Florence as never before. Make the most of your trip, or plug in, sit back, and let your imagination take you there, with Walk and Talk Florence.

Download the accompanying map.

©2006 Sound Travel and Power-Glide (P)2006 Sound Travel and Power-Glide

it works

The four tours were terrific. I loaded them into my iPod, and my wife and I each listened through one of the ear buds as we slowly strolled, arm and arm through Florence.
The author sprinkles some interesting history and folklore into each tour. Be sure to take copies of the accompanying maps, to help navigate through some of the trickier routes.

My favorite part of visiting Italy

I've done 3 of the "Walk and Talk" series -- Rome, Venice, and Florence -- and they were my favorite part of my trip to Italy. You get such a great sense of the city and how people lived.

The subject matter emphasizes architecture and location history, which I happen to love. It's not dry; the narrators share tons of interesting details about art, archways, street names, neighborhoods, and awesome miscellanea you'd never otherwise notice

Each title has 4 walks for that city, each with a 45-minute audio track that takes you on a walk they say lasts 2 hours. I found each took me about 75-90 minutes, with the talking speed at 1.5x. But you can also take it slow and hop in and out of shops along the way, too.

If you use these on your trip, here are some tips:

1. You often need to enter buildings, so take the walks between 9am-12pm or 2-5pm. Many churches and museums are closed outside of these hours. (Better yet, check the hours of the main sites ahead of time; some museums are closed on Mondays, for instance.)

2. Print the associated PDF maps, 1 for each person in your group. It's nigh impossible to follow the directions without them.

3. If you have a few days in Rome/Venice/Florence, consider doing the walks first to get a sense of the city and to help you decide which sights you want to see. You get recommendations about special restaurants to check out, local stores, or out-of-the-way museums to visit. However, if you're only in one of these cities for a day or two, you might want to just head right to the main attractions.

4. Be prepared to spend 2 to 8 euros to enter each of the various churches and museums along the walk; these are always worth it, and usually don't take more than 10-to-30 minutes to see each.

5. I found that a familiarity with Italian history -- specifically Florentine, Venetian, and Roman history -- was helpful in putting some of the factoids in context. The Great Courses series "Italians Before Italy" has great lectures about these cities' history.

Though the content is from 2006 or earlier, it was 95% accurate. Occasionally a store or restaurant mentioned wouldn't be there, or a museum has re-arranged its exhibits, but otherwise no issue. No surprise, I guess; these cities have stayed largely the same for 400+ years, so what's an extra decade?

Each walk is about 5,000-10,000 steps (according to my pedometer), so it's a good workout.

Happy walking!

Florence for the EAR

This was and is a wonderful way to review and relive some of our travels.