ESSO

The two maps shown above right are both dated 1957, although the first one is the final (ninth) edition of the old design and is dated March. Its cover shows Paraggi (S. Margherita Ligure) and it used a more complex cartographic style with contour shading. The next map is the first edition of the next version: it probably comes from July or August 1957 and has Positano on the cover.

Extracts from these two maps are shown left with the earlier one above the later one; note how the graphic rendering of Vesuvius has disappeared, and smaller towns have been replaced by a population symbol, rather than showing their built up area. The same map was used when Esso moved to a photographic cover design - the examples on the lower row are from 1958 and 1959 respectively.

The map of Bari shown left is for the 1959 "Fiera del Levante", the annual fair and exhibition held each September. 200 km North up the Adriatic Coast lies Ancona, and the 1960 Esso map (right) was produced for its International Fishing Festival, held annually on 11-16 May.
It is not known if Esso produced further maps for these events or for any of the other festivals that take place around the country.

By 1967, Sardinia was available on a sectional map with Central Italy, using the standard Esso style. Each section was at 1:500,000 scale. Additionally, a city map of Rome was reintroduced; this is marked as being the 1st edition, July 1967 and used local cartography (IGDA) at 1:22,000 and was sold for a few years.

As Italian petrol retailing became increasingly unprofitable, several companies started co-producing maps with firms outside the sector. This June 1971 map was prepared jointly with Avis rentacar. However as late as 1980, Esso continued to produce the three sectional maps, as can be seen in this North example. The age of the base map is revealed in a 1968 copyright date.

The next Esso maps known are, however, not proper road maps. They were produced as a series of about a dozen maps (left) expressly to be given away in summer 1983 by Esso dealers on the autostrade (motorways). They were prepared in Milano by Geo Executive/Arti Grafiche Ricordi and totally lack any roads, although there is a tiny Esso logo in the bottom right hand corner of the margin and they were distributed in envelopes carrying a large Esso sign. Stylistically they perhaps owe as much to the pre-war Pratts pictorial plans of Britain as to the General Drafting Company ones used in the 1950s.

These 3 images are taken from the most recent known Esso map of Italy, of the motorway system (autostrade). Reasonably detailed linear maps of each autostrada were shown in bands around 56km wide, arranged around a basic planning map of the entire network. The reverse had more linear maps and plans of 10 main cities. Esso stations on the autostrade were shown by the logo, with a poorly registered red plate.