Istituto Geografico Centrale

The Istituto Geografico Centrale (IGC, in English ‘’Central Geographic Institute’’) is a privately owned Italian company based in Turin (Piedmont), known for its guide books and hiking maps mainly concerning the Western Alps[1] and their contiguous areas.

Later on other 1:50,000 maps about hills and plains of NW Italy followed, and IGC also published more detailed maps, at scale of 1:25,000, mainly intended for climbers and alpinists and also reporting, aside footpaths and ascent routes, also mountain bike tracks and ski mountaineering routes.

The Istituto geografico Centrale is recognised for the role it played for decades in support of hiking and alpinism in the Western Alps.

Each of Berutto's guide book, consisting in one or two volumes, covers the area of one of the 1:50,000 IGC map with a wide range of hiking, climbing and mountain bike itineraries.

[8] Despite its author's death in November 2004,[9] which stopped further issues of the serie, many of the Guide IGC are still considered a reference by hikers and alpine huts managers.