Maps

Small-Scale Maps Michelin has a series of good fold-out country maps. No 988 (€6.20) covers the whole country on a scale of 1:1,000,000. You could also consider the series of area maps (€6.20 each) at 1:400,000-Nos 428 to 431 cover the mainland, 432 covers Sicily and 433 Sardinia. The Touring Club Italiano (TCI) publishes a decent map (€5.20) covering Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia at 1:800,000.

Road Atlases If you are driving around Italy, the AA's Big Road Atlas - Italy, available in the UK for UK£9.99, is scaled at 1:250,000 and includes 39 town maps. Pretty much as good is Michelin's Tourist and Motoring Atlas Italy, which is scaled at 1:300,000, has 78 town maps and retails for UK£9.95 (available in Italy for about €16.)

In Italy, the Istituto Geografico de Agostini publishes a comprehensive Atlante Turistico Stradale d'Italia (1:250,000), which includes 145 city maps, for €20.20. TCI publishes anAtlante Stradale d'Italia (1:200,000) divided into three parts - Nord, Centro and Sud (€17.55 each). It also publishes Autoatlante d'Italia (€20.20), a road/street directory for the whole country which includes 206 city maps on a scale of 1:1,350,000.

City Maps The city maps in this book, combined with tourist office maps, are generally adequate. More detailed maps are available in Italy at good bookshops (such as Feltrinelli, which has branches throughout the country) or newsstands. Excellent city plans and maps are published by de Agostini, TCI and Michelin. Other decent city map publishers include FMB (with the yellow covers) and Milan's Vincitorio Editore. TCI publishes 200 Piante di Citta' (€10.50), a handy book of street plans covering pretty much any city whose layout might otherwise be a source of confusion. Lonely Planet publish a Rome City Map for UK £3.99.

Walking Maps Maps of walking trails in the Alps and Appenines are available in major bookshops in Italy, but the best by far are the TCI bookshops. Otherwise, you can usually locate maps of specific zones once you are in the area. The best walking maps are the 1:25,000 scale series published by Tabacco (they mainly cover the north). Kompass publishes 1:25,000 scale maps of various parts of Italy, as well as a 1:50,000 series and several in other scales (including one at 1:7500 of Capri). Edizioni Multigraphic Florence produces a series of walking maps concentrating mainly on the Apennines. All of these maps cost from around €5.20 to €6.30. The series of Guide dei Monti d'Italia grey hardbacks published by the TCI and Club Alpino Italiano, are exhaustive walking guides with maps.