Does anyone have suggestions for the best/easiest to use maps of Rome, Venice, Florence? I am getting road maps for driving from Rome to Florence from Road Italia(or something like that), but need good maps to plan city time.
Thanks,
Kane

Use Google Images to search for planning maps. Writing to the Italian tourist bureau in your country or making request via their website may also get some within a couple of weeks.

When you get to each city, track down the tourist info center, signed with a yellow sign with letter "i" for a cheap (maybe 1 euro) or free one.

I think I got a cheap map at the train station in Rome, but the one I had from the internet had more street names.

Florence has one across the street from the train station, and in Santa Croce area near the library.

If you get the Venice Card, I think there is a map with that. Pickup at airport or Santa Lucia train station.

I know lots of people buy the expensive laminated maps from Borders or B&N bookstores and mark notes on them with china pencil.

Thanks, lostinplace. I'm hoping to get them before we go, in July, so I can study and plan ahead. I'll check the Google Images and write the tourist bureau.
Jane

Truthfully I think the best maps are the tear off maps that you get in the hotels. You can mark them up, cut 'em, fold 'em, etc., use them and get a new one each day.

I've done all of those cities, and the best maps I've had were the Lonely Planet city maps. A lot of them are out of print now, but you can still pick them up at bookstores and on the lonely planet website.

I just posted a little while ago about this website/software I discovered this evening called schmap. www.schmap.com. It has interactive maps layered with all kinds of cool info. I'm not sure if it has maps for each of the cities you need, but you can check it out and see...

Hi

I have made this interactive Google map of Rome http://gardkarlsen.com/rome_italy_map.htm and I have marked where some of the attractions are located. I have also marked where some of the restaurants we used are located...you can click on the various markers to get more information

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Hi Jane,

I'm not sure if this will be helpful or not but I use them quite a bit to give me an idea of where places are etc.

http://www.hot-maps.de/europe/italy/rome/homeen.html

I purchase the lonely planet fold out maps, and find attractions and their locations relative to each other prior to my vacation. Its always good to have some idea of the areas prior to visiting, especially if u are doing things on your own. When in Rome last year , the hotel had tear off maps with subway routes included, making it easy to carry , fold up and slip in your pocket.

I like the Streetwise laminated maps. they are more expensive ($8/each) but you can order on amazon, they are extremely detailed and they fold up nicely so you don't look goofy trying to fold and unfold a large unyielding paper map. you can write on them with a grease pencil as someone suggested.

Thanks to all of you.

I've used these the MapEasy line of city maps:
http://www.mapeasy.com/prod_me.html

They are laminated and have large print so they are easy to read.

I use the Falkplan patent-folded maps. They are specially folded into a book, which opens up no more than 9" x 9".

As well as an index with all the street names, it also shows the train, tram, bus &amp; metro stops. It's a very comprehensive map that depicts the <u>entire</u> city, not just the center. Peace, Robyn &gt;-

For maps to purchase, I have so far chosen, and been very satisfied with the Insight city maps. They are relatively cheap at Amazon, and are laminated so you can easily bathe with them, if you so desire. The ones I have so far are of Venice, Rome, Beijing, Budapest and Prague (the two latter yet to be visited but planning to), and they also mark major sights.

Hi Jane,

Another fan of the Streetwise maps here! The lamination really makes them hold up and you don't have to fuss about folding. Also, they are much better than the freebies from the hotels. Easier to read and more detailed. I had lots of fellow tourists (struggling with their maps) ask to see mine. Also, all the churches and sites are cross referenced so you really can find everything.

Buon viaggio!

Check out TrekTools.com
I got great maps of Tuscany, and street maps of Venice and Florence from them.

For walking around (back pocket) and research I think a good rival to Streetwise is the National Geographic Rome map. Compact and durable, laminated and the smallest (1:9600) scale of any map I could find and I took 5 maps including Streetwise to Rome.
Good detail with major sites in an illustrated highlight. Best feature is well thought out colour graphics that made this map the most readable to my middle aged eyes and thus made it more useful than Streetwise. Significant buildings are highlighted with a dark planform. Parks are marked green and paths mapped and the ruins of the Forum outlined. Streets are distinctly coloured in a hierarchy ranging from major through routes to small streets and one way streets are indicated. The pedestrian zone streets are also differentiated. It all helped to quickly identify location and what to expect in terms of traffic and noise.
Maps of the Vatican City, the Metropolitana, ancient Rome and a large scale regional insert are included.
The issue of non named streets is common to all and was the reason I bought so many maps looking to fill in the blanks. But in general NG is as good or better than the others.
Only caveat is that the range of the city covered is somewhat limited by the compactness/convenience and the scale. In the north Borghese is broken off and the south doesn't really reach into Testaccio and no Nomentana in the east. OK if one is confined to Centro or has a larger scale and more unwieldy map.
The free and easily obtained (tourist kiosks for example) Charta Roma is a good supplement, has a nice map of the Via Appia/Archeobus, and can be written on but text is hard to read and the map is flimsy.

Another vote for Streetwise.

We have Streetwise maps for all the cities we'll be visiting.

Another Fan of streetwise. They are very detailed, indestructable and very detailed. You will be able to use them time and time again.