maps at Italian car rentals?

BJ: Do yourself an enormous favour and lay out the money to buy a decent and detailed map or atlas. On our last trip to Italy we used Michelin ITALY Tourist & Motoring Atlas. It's about 9" x 12" and spiral bound so easy to handle. We also had Freytag & Berndt Italy South road map, which is a huge fold-out but was useful nonetheless.

BJ, go spend a couple of bucks and buy a GPS. They are so cheap nowadays. You won't be sorry. Practice and learn how to use it here. We just love ours. It has maps of both the US and the EU. It is not perfect, but it makes traveling so much simpler. And it has the added convenience of warning you before you approach any fixed radar unit. We have used ours in Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy(Sardinia), and for a cross country US trip. We used to always take our Michelin road atlas; it is wonderful. But now we just buy a Michelin fold-out map of the country where we will be traveling, and bring our GPS..

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go buy a Michelin map then, since it won't take up as much room in my suitcase. I've seen the spiral bound in the bookstore and thought they might be useful.

To ensure you will take full advantage of your rental car, I recommend you buying a road atlas (Michelam, D'Ambrosio etc.), which will enable you to search for interesting places, scenic rural roads and alike that usually goes unnoticed and that are not properly highlighted on a GPS. However, a GPS is ESSENTIAL in my opinion. It can save you so much hassle of finding your agriturismo on a city that has no rural road signs - for instance. Don't rent one from the rental company, rented GPS are horrendously expensive. Instead, do one of the following: 1. Buy an Italy map for the GPS you already have for use in US (all GPS newer than 4 years have some easy updatable tool via Internet/USB). 2. Buy a TomTom app for you iPhone or Android. It will double as on offline map (not requiring data roaming) for when you are strolling as a pedestrian and want to find that restaurant you just wanted to visit. Be sure to turn data roaming offline before boarding the plane out of US though. 3. If you have neither a GPS nor a smartphone, buy a GPS in US. You can find used models in good condition on eBay for less than $ 50 (add € 15 for an Italian downloadable map). As fun as it can be to drive in a foreign country and as social as you might be, believe me: you don't want to stall you car in a village where nowhere is to be seen as 7pm looking for your hotel - and no area map/road atlas will be as precise as a GPS.

BJ - I get the impression you will be travelling on your own. If this is the case, a road map will be cumbersome to consult if you are also the driver, and Italian roads and routes can be tricky. You can get a GPS at the car rental company these days and you definitely will need one if you are going solo.

I am only driving for 3 days around Parma area with a friend. Thank you all for the GPS suggestions, but aren't they a little heavy to carry in a suitcase? I like the iPhone app suggestion the best.
Thanks again.