Walking

http://www.italymag.co.uk/community/post/walking-sibillini-mountains Some of the information in the above post may help. The Kompass maps are the nearest to an OS map; as well as the ones covering the Sibillini there should also be one for your specific area.

The Tourist office in Montefortino has a good selection.  Of course its opening hours are another matter entirely!

In Uk there is a very good series of OS maps with a buff cover which for instance covers the Lake District in four sheets. Is there an equivalent for Italy? It's a few years ago now but the best my friend could come up with was a series of maps in glorious black and white intended to help train guns during the first world war! The contour lines made your eyes go funny as well! There used to be a very good map shop in the via del babuino, Rome but that is now Feltrinelli. Is there another good map shop in Rome?

There is a great website by a man called Albano Marcarini called www.vasentiero.it.  Marcarini has done a lot of guides and the ones we have bought have beautiful photos, watercolours of views and really detailed maps of the walks.  They are lovely little publications and you can spend hours just reading and appreciating them! On his website, if you follow the menu link "Cerca nello zaino" and then click on the Le Marche region, you will get a list of walks and bike rides and who they are published by.  I have to say, there are many more walks Marcarini has done in the north of Italy, most of which can be downloaded, but you will have to have a search through the site and see what you can find.  I should also say, his walks are in Italian, but if you can't understand the words, the maps are so full of detail you could still do the walks. Hope this helps.

I'm afraid the best maps of the Sibillinis (can't comment for the rest of Marche) were drawn (and I do mean drawn by hand - there are no digital maps) in the 1940's. There are a couple of good walking books but you would still need a map and the best one of the Sibillinis is produced by the National Park and last year went up from €7 to €12 which is pretty impressive inflation! You can buy it in any of the Park's houses if you can catch them open (spending cuts etc). Otherwise the tabacchi in Amandola sells them. The Grand Anello is the route that is best maintained in our experience.

I bought some very detailed military maps from here,    http://www.ibs.it/

I bought some very detailed military maps from here,    http://www.ibs.it/

Some info here: http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/24150 S

Bunterboy - I'd love to know what military maps you found for Marche as I can't find any on that site.

Military maps 1/50000 and 1/25000 are available from here: http://www.themapshop.co.uk/europe/italy/italy.htm Have never seen them so can't comment on quality/detail etc but OH who worked with the Italian military a few years ago used to comment on  how awful and inaccurate many of their maps were! Apparently, for military defensive and tactical reasons, certain things were deliberately not included - all in the name of national security !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great website but nothing for Marche as usual. I was told the best maps here are the ones ENEL have. There are some good ones (possibly military) that can be bought from the state map-maker in Florence. They don't have a website though. Unfortunately for Amandola we are on the cusp of 3 maps and they are very expensive (about €50 each) so I never bothered. They are very detailed but I'm not convinced they are very up to date. Oh for an OS map..........

Yep Penny, that link was for olive pruning books. (I blame the malt) I actually meant..   http://www.igmi.org/   Have a gander,  I'm sure Le marche is covered at 1:25000

re the Map Shop link: there are definitely  military maps for Le Marche listed. The site is not terribly clear as under the "see also Sicily /Sardinia' in blue,  I think it says "official maps" then  the various military options. I think the military maps are listed first and do cover Le Marche if you click "view index" then the region you can see there is comprehensive coverage. It is easy to miss as at a quick glance it looks as if the first section just refers to Sicily and Sardinia.

Here you go Penny.  http://www.igmi.org/ware/

Bunterboy - what a great site. Thanks. I think it is the same maps I mentioned as Amandola is on the cusp. Have you bought any? How much were they - any idea? It does say they were drawn in 1951 (sigh) but it is the best we're likely to get! Andiamo - that's great. Thanks. And they are a lot cheaper than the ones I'd seen previously.

Just had a good look at Bunterbot's website - whooppeee! It's fab. Can order all map online too and they are not expensive. Just a shame we didn't find it when we were running a cycling business!!! The maps 'palstici' are great plastic profiled 3D maps. Hubbie now has his birthday pressies sorted for a while....

>>>There is a great website by a man called Albano Marcarini called www.vasentiero.it.   Thanks for this, Great site

Thanks everyone.  I cannot wait to explore the Sibillini's.