Where can I find city maps?
 

Any suggestions on where to find good maps here at home (Califorinia) prior to leaving for Italy. I'd like to map out sights and restaurants and so far only have maps out of travel books. Should I go to a travel store, AAA??

Any suggestions would help. I pulled up mappy.com, too.

Barnes & Noble, or other large book stores all have maps of cities and countries.

Any big book store (Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc) should have a selection of maps, at least for the bigger cities. I've also gotten maps for London and Paris at Brookstone stores. They fold up very small. They are not as complete as something like a Streetwise map, but are more convenient to carry, so sometimes I have both on me and can choose which I need on a given day.

I got my Paris map from Borders (Streetwise Paris $6.95) and it proved to be invaluable. This time around I went there to get a map for Rome and they were sold out! Alas, I was able to order one directly from them for the same price but 1.60 shipping: www.streetwisemaps.com

Good Luck!

We picked up some small guides with pop-out maps for several cities at Brookstone. They're called Insideout and in addition to the maps include info about the city, a small pen and even a compass, all included in a postcard size booklet. The maps, however, are small so may not be exactly what you're looking for.

I love STreetwise maps for major cities, you can order them on line from Amazon.
The only city where I really felt the need to supplement Streetwise was in Rome where I found there were many tiny streets and alleys not appearing on Streetwise. On the other hand, Michelin's Roma Tascabile is a great stand-alone or supplement. It is a 5X8 spiral-bound book, and it has an alpha list of seemingly all streets. It doesn't however offer a city-wide view, so that's what the Streetwise map can do for you.
on-line maps of Rome: One is a zoomable one located at www.atac.roma.it/trasroma/indexuk.htm .

The other is a clickable map located at http://mappe.virgilio.it/mappe/wwwemap.cgi?place=roma.

One other option is head to a Rand McNally store. They have stores in SF, LA and Orange County. Their stores usually have a good selection of maps by different companies and you can choose the ones that suit you.

B&B City Streets has a series of laminated maps that are a little bigger thatn streetwise, but easier to read.

Thank you for all of your help!! I found the Streetwise maps on Amazon! Can't wait to get planning!!

Thanks again!!

The streetwise maps are wonderful, and very durable, but be aware that the maps of "cities" often only show the very central area in detail. I wouldn't buy anything unless you can actually see and look at it first to be sure it meets your needs, i.e., don't buy them on-line unless forced to do so. Good luck.

You might want to get a map that has either translations in English or the place names as you will see them once you get to Italy.
I like to make notes on the maps ahead of time. I know I will always have the map with me when I'm wandering the city.
Have a great time. Some of the guide books have some very useful maps in them already.