Tuscany/Umbria road map
 

A couple of years ago I bought a Michelin road map of Ireland before going on vacation there, but I found the map the car rental place gave me more useful (for one thing, the Michelin map was really gigantic). For this reason I'm not inclined to buy a map of Italy before going there in a few weeks, but wondered if anyone here knows whether Avis gives you a decent map for navigating Tuscany and Umbria.

Just back from Tuscany and Umbria. Avis gives a decent general map that will get you from one major city to the other via the major roads but you should pick up one for Tuscany from the many Tourism info offices in Tuscany. Free and good and small. The lady in the tourism office at Radda in Chianti spoke good english and was extremely helpful even around closing time on a Saturday evening. The toll roads will not accept credit cards unlike in France. You can email me if you'd like more information.

the best maps of italy are published by the touring club italia and can be purchased at B&N.

We used a credit card on the autostrada in Italy without any problems. We like the Touring Club Italia maps, too. They're much less expensive in Italy than in the US. We found the 1:200000 maps to be very helpful in our navigating efforts, but getting lost can be an adventure too!

Louisa, The Michelin #430 of central Italy is great for your purpose. TCI also has one--both are 400k to 1. The 200k to 1 maps do not cover both regions