A Look at the Map cs_italy in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Italy (cs_italy) is a Hostage Rescue map featured in Counter-Strike. It appears in every game of the Counter-Strike series since Beta and is considered a fan favorite.

Overview

If you haven’t guessed it yet, Italy is thematically based off the country its name derives from. The Counter-Terrorists objective is to eliminate all of the Terrorists or rescue the hostages. The Terrorists want to eliminate all of the Counter-Terrorists or prevent them from rescuing the hostages before the round timer ends.

Italy is filled with long streets and narrow passageways, much like the city of Florence. It also includes an iconic marketplace (image below). These features allow for a mix of long range combat and also close quarter combat. This allows for many diverse levels of play and tactical opportunities. While the market is one of the few open areas on the map, it also is a key access point that provides plenty of firefights. Most of the buildings and houses are accessible, allowing for that unique, close quarter combat experience.

Development

Cs_italy was originally designed and created by Glen Cooper (a.k.a. glenC). The original textures were provided by Jaison Green (a.k.a. DigiChaos). The radio and chickens found throughout the map are staples of the original cs_italy.

Cs_italy structurally went unchanged until Global Offensive. In Condition Zero greater detail and model quality were added. A visual rendition also took place during Counter-Strike: Source. With Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, major overhauls were made. The stairs that use to lead up to the wine cellar now lead towards an apartment area. The cellar was redesigned to be smaller and leads to an apartment building. The small nook that was commonly used for camping was completely removed from the map. The chickens (which were removed in Counter-Strike: Source) were added once again to the map. The location of the hostages was also changed (one is now in the apartment).