The MapGuides in a nutshell
- A unique and patented binding concept, where pages unfold to reveal other pages
- A clever combination of text, photographs and cartography
- Beautiful, clear, large-scale maps
- A very attractive price
- 15 languages and over 5.5 million copies sold worldwide
How it all began
Once upon a time there was a brilliant bookbinder, Rodolfo Zanardi, who would always be fiddling with small pieces of paper — folding, unfolding, refolding — trying to work out how he might get a big image to fit in a little book, until one day the idea came to him. Sewing wasn’t an option, but what about glueing together folded pieces of paper to make a bigger page?
His company and that of his long-term partners Editoriale, printers in Trieste, and Gallimard, publishers in Paris, were already working on a series of travel guides. The unfolded page being twice as big as the standard one, it was ideal to accommodate a large-scale map. Special machines had to be built but it wasn’t long before the now patented ‘octavius’ project was born.
Today the MapGuides, as they are called in the UK and US, are published in 15 languages and have sold over 5.5 million copies worldwide.
Why the MapGuides
Forget the flimsy and unwieldy map from the tourist office which you can never get to grips with. Forget also the exhaustive and very useful — but very heavy — guidebook you end up wishing you’d left in your hotel room. A MapGuide is the answer to these age-old problems: they are the most portable and practical all-in-one map-and-guides available today.
And it’s easy to understand how they work: early in the guide a general map shows the division of the city into areas. There are two pages covering each area: one highlights our favourite restaurants, shops, bars, tearooms and markets in that district, and the other — which you discover when you unfold the restaurant page — features a map of the area and the sights not to be missed there. These sights are illustrated, carry a brief description and marked clearly on the map. Easy!
At the front and back of the guides are two horizontal foldouts — the first with practical information on the city, the last with hotel reviews and transport information. To top things off, each guide now has a useful street index at the end.
In all, between 80 and 120 addresses, regularly updated, plus some 60 to 80 not-to-be-missed sights and a list of a 20 to 30 carefully selected hotels in all price ranges.
Whether you are away for two days or seven, these compact guides are the perfect travel mates.