Italy

Overview

Gallery

Guide

Tour of Duty

Italy
General
Game(s)
Creator(s)	Glen Cooper Jaison Green Ritual Entertainment Turtle Rock Studios Valve Corporation (Iikka Keränen Lydia Zanotti ) Hidden Path Entertainment
Scenario	Hostage rescue
Map Group	Hostage Group
Factions
Terrorists	Midwest Militia Phoenix Connexion Separatist
Counter-Terrorists	GIGN
Other
Location	Italy
First appearance	BETA 6.5
Last appearance	Counter-Strike 2

Italy (cs_italy) is a Hostage rescue map featured in the Counter-Strike series. Since its debut, it has appeared in every game and is widely considered a fan-favorite amongst the community.

Overview

Italy is filled with narrow passageways and includes an iconic marketplace. In these areas, it features both close quarters and long range combat, with many diverse tactical opportunities. The market, being a usual site for firefights, is arguably the most "open" and spacious part of the map. Several of the buildings and houses are accessible, leaving behind the outdoor skirmishes. It's possible that the map takes place somewhere in the north of Italy since there are mountains visible. It is suggested that it takes place in the South Tyrol province since there have been real separatist-terrorist attacks in the 20th century, the street sign "Bixio" suggests the real town of "Brixen".

Official Description

• Counter-Strike, Condition Zero & Source

Counter-Terrorists: Navigate your way around the Italian city and get those Hostages from the foreign Terrorists.

Terrorists: Prevent the Counter-Terrorists from rescuing the Hostages or eliminate the Counter-Terrorists.

Development

Counter-Strike Beta 6.5

It was released as an official map along with this beta on June 8, 2000. Italy was created by Glen Cooper, otherwise known as glenC or Bastard, and textured by DigiChaos (whose true name was Jaison Green). At the time, the two were both members of a clan known as [HOTSHEEP]. The radio and chickens would later become staples of the map's unique atmosphere and gameplay.

Counter-Strike 1.1

The map was updated to better fit the upgraded graphics of Counter-Strike 1.1.

Counter-Strike 1.6

Visual upgrades and surface smoothing were implemented for gameplay purposes.

Counter-Strike (Xbox)

The basic layout remained exactly the same. With a newer version of the GoldSrc engine, however, greater detail and model quality was possible. On this version, the GIGN fought against the Midwest Militia.

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero

Main article: Italy/Tour of Duty

The map was edited and updated aesthetically by Ritual Entertainment and the original map creators. Some of the new textures were taken from the mission Motorcade Assault in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes. The layout remained the same.

Counter-Strike: Source

Italy was once again upgraded, this time by Valve Corporation. The map received a dramatic visual overhaul, and the chickens were not included.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

It was redesigned for the new game by Valve Corporation and their partner Hidden Path Entertainment. As a way to balance the map, the stairs that used to lead to the wine cellar now lead toward the apartment area. The cellar itself is still present, along with its old entrance via "Middle". Now however, it is much smaller and accessible by a brand new apartment building. The small nook, that was located in the long hallway and used for camping, was completely removed. Rather than having just two chickens at the market, there are now multiple chickens that move around and make noises. In a major overhaul to the Hostage Rescue scenario, there is now a hostage located at the house and another in the apartments area. Aside from gameplay changes, the map underwent another major graphical update.

The Counter-Terrorists for this map are the GIGN while the Terrorists are the Separatists.

Counter-Strike 2

Italy is once again reintroduced in Counter-Strike 2 with a few changes. It is available in Casual and Deathmatch game modes.

Achievements

• Counter-Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Map

Italy Map Veteran Win 100 rounds on the CS_Italy map.

Global Expertise

Italy Map Veteran Win 100 rounds on Italy.

Cut Content

• Italy (gd_italy) has a separate unused map for the Guardian mode.
  • The objective was "Defend the hostage until time runs out".

Trivia

• The short guitar segment heard in the alcove near the CT spawn zone (commonly referred to by the filename "guit1.wav") is actually a variant of the beginning of the piece "op.120 (Rossiniana) No.2" by Mauro Giuliani.
  • The other segment named "flamenco.wav" is a shortened variant of "Carcelera - Reflejo Andaluz" by Sabicas.
• In the Terrorist base, the song "E Il Sol Dell'anima" by Luciano Pavarotti, is played. It is also present in the Deleted Scenes mission Thin Ice.
• The radio and chickens are not present in the Counter-Strike: Source and Counter-Strike (Xbox) versions of the map.
• In Counter-Strike, shooting the radio will cause it to explode, without doing any environmental damage.
  • The sound is reused from the HE grenade explosion.
• In Global Offensive, shooting an eggplant in the market will oddly cause it to bleed. Interestingly, using a knife will not yield the same result.
• In Counter-Strike, there is a secret room near the apartment, which contains a parodied painting called "Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele" featuring Sheep which is reference to clan [HOTSHEEP]. It’s supposed to play a sheep bleating sound, but the feature was broken and the sound is not playing. The bleating sounds were later used in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes, in the missions Secret War and Thin Ice.
• The GoldSrc chickens' model, textures, and death cluck were taken from a Quake II mod named "Catch the Chicken".
• The power sockets in this map appear to be North American, despite taking place in Europe.
• If the player chooses this map in the Hostage Rescue training in Counter-Strike (Xbox), the passageway to the left from the CT Spawn and the passageway from Market to Mid is blocked.