Unfortunately we must book flights during the end of June beginning of July to Rome. Most of the bargain sites do not cover this time period yet, however we must start booking rooms since it is peak time. Do I wait to book the flights to hopefully get better prices or do I book now with piece of mind? Can anyone recommend sites for good fares? I have tried lowestfares, travelzoo, gotoday. Also is it cheaper to fly from Sacramento, San Francisco or LAX to Rome or Milan? It is most convenient to leave from Sac, but we could leave from SF or LAX if it is significantly cheaper. We are planning to fly to Italy to spend a week in Siena with our daughter and then a week traveling around Italy. I am thinking that Rome will be easiest and cheapest, correct?
Kristin

I am not an airfare expert. That said, I have a feeling that you are not going to have GREAT sales. You might get a better rate then the current rate, but the $400 round trip and really cheap deals usually exclude this time of the year.

You might consider a Travel Agent who could help you see what seats are avaialble. If the planes are almost full, then the discounts will be few and far between.

I would book my rooms, you can always adjust.

First of all summer airfares will not be low especially this year. Travel agents have informed me of this last year even. Traditionally summertime is when airfares go over the top as airlines know many people wish to travel with their families when school is out. Plus there have been cutbacks on international flights on the whole making fares rise more.
I do not know much about airfares but that's what I gathered when I inquired for myself. Honestly you need to check each departure city to see which one works out best. Is it really going to save you much by flying from L.A. if you live in Sacramento? I would think you'd need to get a flight from Sact'o. to L.A. That's too much headache for me. I'd fly from SFO or Sact'o. direct if I were you.
But I'm for less stress and it sounds ok to you to do that.
I don't find the lowcost travel sites any cheaper than the airline sites. One helpful site I've checked airfares is lastminutetravel.com.

Looks like roundtrip to FCO/MXP in the peak summer season is about $890 from SFO or OAK, and $950 from SMF or LAX.

Last year, I booked a flight from Houston to Frankfurt for around the same time, and the fare is similar. Therefore, it's unlikely that would go down much, if at all.

An alternative is to fly to London for about $700, and then connect to one of the European discount airlines. [Some like Ryanair can get you to Italy from London Stansted for a few pounds on certain flights, tax excluded.] That may save you a little, but most likely means a change of airport in London, which adds to cost, time and hassle.

First of all, thank all of you for your replies. I appreciate your feedback. I think I will call my daughters school (UC Santa Barbara, hopefully they are good.) travel agent and see what kind of fares he/she can get. I have found them to fall into the $950-$1050 range, sounds like I am not alone. Great advice, thanks!

I agree with CarolA. Book your hotel rooms in advance - you can always change them. We are going To Amalfi & Sorrento in June and even though I had my flights booked, I waited too long to get my hotels. I finally found hotels that we liked, but they were not our first choices.

You may want to try sidestep.com. I was able to get a flight from Houston to Rome in June for in the $600's and that's the cheapest I have seen.

Another possibility for a cheaper fares--fly via Paris or London to Florence or Pisa. With more flights into Paris or Lodon you might find more options.