My friend Diane suggested that I go to Rick Steves’ site and download some free Italy audio tours of the major sights in Venice, Florence and Rome. These are recorded versions of the highlights from his guide books. They are designed to give you a private walking tour, and are so descriptive that it pays to listen in advance. As with his TV programs, Rick provides a nice blend of history, architecture and regular life.
I took Diane’s advice and was glad that I did. However, due to my personal preference of just walking around looking at things without necessarily “learning” as I go, I didn’t actually use the audio tours in the way they are intended. Instead of listening to the tours as I walked through neighbourhoods in Venice, Florence and Rome, I listened to them before and after my actual wanderings.
I find that I can’t fully immerse myself in the experience if I’m trying to take in all the information while walking. So what I do is listen to the tour the night before in my hotel room, and then if I have time, listen to it again after the day’s outing. Hearing a review of what I’ve just seen helped me to understand and assimiliate the information.
So what’s included in these audio tours? Currently there are three major cities in Italy that Rick has recorded tours for: Venice, Florence and Rome.
Rick’s Venice Audio Tours feature the Grand Canal Cruise, St. Mark’s Square, St. Mark’s Basilica, and Frari Church.
The Florence Audio Tours take you on a tour of the Renaissance Walk, Accademia and Michelangelo’s David, and Uffizi Gallery.
The Rome Audio Tours include the Colosseum, Roman Forum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Trastevere Walk, Jewish Ghetto Walk, Ostia Antica, and Pompeii. I found the audio tour of the Sistine Chapel particularly valuable, as it explained how to get the most out of viewing Michelangelo’s famous ceiling.
Like so many things these days, there are myriad ways to access these audio tours. I downloaded them onto my iPod Touch directly from the RickSteves website. You can also get the Rick Steves Audio Europe app, or download them to any mp3 player. The app is perhaps the easiest and best experience if you have an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android.
One thing I should mention: there are two disadvantages to listening to the audio tours on your mp3 player as opposed to a device like an iPhone. First, you won’t see the pictures. But frankly, you won’t be missing much because the audio tours actually don’t include many pictures; they just have the occasional still photo to illustrate the audio.
The second disadvantage is that the chapter breaks and subheadings may not show up. But that’s not a big deal; basically it will work just fine. After all, you’re going to be looking at the real thing as you walk around, so why would you want to have your head down looking at pictures on an electronic device? 
Get the Rick Steves Italy audio tours here
