sarafloerke's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful book to read, but especially beautiful to read while traveling in Italy. Although the book is 30 years old we still found her observations to be spot on.
bluepigeon's review
4.0
Only read the part about Rome in preparation of a trip. Harrison has a keen eye for detail and she writes well. There is a good balance of history, research, speculation, and even gossip, so her travels really come alive. The Rome section discusses Roman and recent history mostly. She wanders on many roads, sometimes driving, sometimes walking, she sits in many cafes, and she certainly visits many, many churches. Apart from the religious stuff, her musings are entertaining and timeless, and the sidekicks (her friends, who all seems to be mildly crazy) add unexpected flavor. Maybe a tad bit too much Catholic this and Catholic that for my taste, but perhaps unavoidable when reading about Rome. It's also interesting to see how things were in the 80s. I will certainly be looking to see if some of the places Harrison writes about are still standing, so to speak (though in Rome, things stand, even if ruins, it seems).
debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
5.0
I spent over two glorious months traveling with Barbara Grizutti Harrison across Italy through this book Italian Days. There’s nothing like having a wonderful writer guide you around all the interesting spots in a place; wonderful authors are good at pointing out things you might have missed, and pointing them out in a way that shares thoughts and ideas you never would have put together. This was a great book to prepare me for my trip to Italy later in the year.
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