Told you I would see you here.
Nearly everyone ends up on this exact corner, and that is not your fault. It is just where the internet points. Ten minutes off that route there is a different city, picked by people who live here.
Because you scanned us in Rome. Yours for life, no card.
- The full Rome map, not a sample of it
- Built around the way you actually travel
- Not one sponsored place on it, ever
Two fields and you are done. No card, no password to invent.
- Free because you were here, not free until something
- Every place walked and tasted by a real person
- No restaurant can pay to be on your map
We did not find you. We just stood where everybody ends up.
Here is the trick, and it is not much of one. About forty places in Rome absorb almost every visitor who comes here, so we put ourselves in front of a few of them. Somebody in a t-shirt. A paper map handed out on a corner. A small sign on the counter of a gelateria we already send people to. Sooner or later you walked past one of them. That is the whole magic.
Which is the interesting part, if you think about it for a second. You did the research. You watched the videos, you saved the posts, you asked the app everybody plans with. And it sent you to the same corner as the person standing next to you, who did exactly the same homework.
It was never your effort. It was the source. Every list, every reel, every chatbot itinerary learned from the same thing, which is whatever got clicked the most. So they all point at the same forty pins, and 22 million people a year go and stand in them. Half the time the address is out of date, the place changed hands, or it was never good in the first place. You find that out on the pavement, tired, watching the afternoon go.
You get one shot at Rome this trip. Spending it on the version already loaded on everyone else's phone is the part you do not get back.
Ten minutes off that route there is a completely different city. The streets Romans actually walk. The trattoria full of people who live here instead of tour groups. The hour when the famous square is empty and nobody told you. Most visitors fly home without ever knowing it was there.
That is what is on the map. And since you are already standing in Rome, you can have it now rather than deciding about it later.
The sun is up over Rome.
Somewhere in this city, this is the best hour of the day to be in exactly one place. Your map is how you find out which one.
Whatever is left of today, there is a version of it worth walking into. Getting the map takes about a minute, and then you can put the phone away.
Places a Roman would send their best friend to.
- 01What is good near you, right now
You are in the city already. Tell the map you are short on time and it narrows to what is close and open at this hour.
- 02Where Romans actually eat
Past the eight language menus and the plates priced for visitors, to the tables the people who live here are already sitting at.
- 03The Rome the sponsored videos never show
The neighbourhoods and the corners that never make anybody's top ten, because nobody had a reason to publish them.
- 04Every spot walked, tasted and checked by a person
Before it earns a pin. So you are not trusting a guess from something that has never been to Rome.
- 05A Rome that fits the way you travel
Two people can open the same city and get two different Romes. Yours is put together around what you actually like doing, not around what is most photographed.
About a minute, then you can put the phone away.
Nothing to remember and no card. Your name, your email, and Rome is yours.
- Name and emailTwo fields, no card. Rome is unlocked on that address straight away.
- A handful of tapsHow you like to travel, not who you are. No forms, no essays, no personality test.
- Your Rome opensSave it to your home screen and start walking. It stays yours for life.
You are wondering what the catch is. Fair.
Here is the whole thing. Our city maps sell for 29 euro and a few thousand travellers have already bought them for other cities. We are opening Rome this week, and we would rather have the first few thousand people walking around with it than a little more revenue this month.
Whatever you scanned is more or less the entire marketing plan. Instead of buying ads that follow you around the internet for weeks, we printed some t-shirts, gave away paper maps on street corners, and asked a few places we already love if we could leave a sign on the counter. You found us out here rather than online, so Rome is on us. It stays free, for life. If it earns your trust and you want Tokyo or New York next time, you pay for those. If it does not, you never hear a price from us again.
The one rule we do not bend
Nobody can pay to be on your map. Not a restaurant, not a hotel, not a tour operator. The Romans who build the maps are paid by us for every place they add, and if a business ever pays them, they are out that day.
And if you scanned us on the counter of a gelateria, you are right to wonder. So: they did not pay to be there. It works the other way round. That place was already on the map, which is exactly why we asked to leave a sign in it.
It is the only reason a map like this is worth carrying, and the reason we are not going to end up pointing you at the same forty places as everybody else.
Over 2,700 travellers already carry our maps, with zero sponsored places since the first day.
Questions you are right to ask.
Free. There is no card and no trial, and Rome stays on your account for life. We make money when travellers buy maps for other cities, and only then.
Because that is where your map lives. We send you the link, and a note if we open a city you might care about. One click and we stop.
On the phone in your hand. The link we send you opens your map and you can keep it one tap away on your home screen.
A chatbot has read about Rome. The people who built your map live in it. And nobody paid them to mention a place, which is a promise no ranking on the internet can make you.
Those are exactly the hours worth protecting. Tell us you are short on time and the map narrows to what is near you and open right now.
People who have lived here for years, selected one by one, paid by us for every place they add. Not influencers, not guides working on commission. You will not see their names on your screen, and that is on purpose: the place has to earn the pin, not the person.
Yes. And the places are described the way a friend would describe them, not the way a review site would.
No. Your map link, and the occasional note when there is something worth telling you. One click to stop, and we do.
Rome is outside. One tap and it is yours.
You are already here, the light is already going, and the map takes about a minute. Then put the phone in your pocket and go and get properly lost.
Because you scanned us in Rome. Yours for life, no card.
- The full Rome map, not a sample of it
- Built around the way you actually travel
- Not one sponsored place on it, ever
No card and no code. Two fields and Rome is yours.
PS. If you would rather not, that is completely fine. Take the photo, have the gelato, enjoy Rome. We are scattered around the city for a few more days, on some t-shirts and a few counters, so there is a decent chance you run into us again.