We are not looking to eat FAST FOOD..but we want to be conservative with our money. We'd like to go to less touristy places to have our dinners....places that the locals love and that do not cost and arm and a leg.. We will be in Rome, Venice , and Florence. Thanks for your suggestions

Look for tavalo calda (literally hot table) and rosticceria (akin to a BBQ place).

Go to the university area and eat where the students eat.All three of those cities have large student populations.

Also, (this does not work in tourist areas but if you head further afield) follow the local workmen from construction sites and so forth when they break for lunch. DH and I have lucked into several excellent finds in small towns this way. But don't expect to be welcomed right away and don't ask to see a menu...just point to what the men are having and ask for the same.You will then be a treated as a friend!

<<Look for tavalo calda (literally hot table)>>

Good suggestion, but it's tavola...

There are many more places with good or even excellent food than with bad. (In Italy a restaurant with bad food goes out of business unless 1)it's within a block of a major tourist site or 2) it's in Venice.)

Do not eat right next to any major site - walk a couple of blocks.

Do not eat at anyplace that has menus in multiple languages posteed outside.

Never, ever eat at any place that has pictures of the food posted.

We have followed this rule and have only ever been disapointed at 2 meals in Italy - no matter how low the price (both in Venie and both big $).

You might get more helpful answers if you give a general price range....for example. are you wiling to spend 50 Euro for two with wine?

50 euro for two with wine sounds like a perfect price

Here is one place that I like in Florence:

http://www.anticoristorodicambi.it/

For lunch in that city, try the Central Market, where there are food vendors selling sandwiches and various plates of the day for very few euro.. The most famous of these is Nerbone, on the right as you enter...

Check out these two, close to Piazza Navona, both full of locals.

http://www.webvisionitaly.com/catego...p;ref_item=252

http://www.webvisionitaly.com/catego...p;ref_item=187

We ate at Da Vito e Dina on Via Degli Scipioni near the Vatican with a friend who is a former Catholic priest and visits Rome. We were welcomed warmly by Vito. It is a simple trattoria with good food at reasonable prices. See this review from the LA Times
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-rome25apr25

Another good inexpensive restaurant in Rome was Il Portico at 1/e Via del Portico d'Ottavia in the Jewish ghetto neighborhood. This is an interesting area to visit. The restaurants are known for traditional specialties like fried artichokes.

Here is another thread that might be helpful
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34743311

Sounds delicious.

I did a trip report about eating in Rome; I will top it for you. We try to choose moderately priced places with great regional food, although we did also dine at one Emilian place that week....