A few months ago we greatly enjoyed a four week stay in Rome, Florence, Tuscany and Venice. We received much help from Fodorites?both directly and indirectly?in our preparation. I am not very good on describing what we did, but I hope others might find our costings of some use, as well as our comments on some of the people with whom we did business.

I do need to give some bare outline of our trip, however.

We are two Australians, on each side of 60. Ours was essentially a self-catering holiday, though we did occasionally eat out with much pleasure. Self-catering suits our budget, our need to rest in the evenings and the pleasure we gain in shopping at the local shops and markets and trying the local foods and wines. Since 1998 we have had self-catering holidays in Ireland (4 weeks), Paris (2 weeks), Queensland (4.5 weeks) and now Italy (4 weeks).
Accommodation
Rome (two weeks)
We used Roma Shuttle to get from Airport to apartment and from apartment to Stazioni Termini when we left. Frustratingly, they were not waiting for us at the airport, but a phone call soon had our driver meeting us. It lost us about an hour of our first day.

In Rome we stayed in an excellent, two-bedroom apartment (Via Rodi) booked through Guest in Italy (http://www.guestinitaly.com/ ). We took two bedrooms to accommodate our son and his wife from London who stayed for four nights with us. It was located in Via Rodi, a 20 minute walk from the Vatican. The apartment was not far from a supermarket, there were lots of small food shops nearby, and it was just 8 minutes from Ottaviano metro station
Florence (4 nights)
Our apartment was booked through Domus International (http://www.domusintl.com ). When we arrived we found ?there was a problem with the water? which made it impossible for us to have our apartment (that had been over the road from the Duomo), but that we were to be put up in a b&b.

The Villa il Colle was a delightful place on the top of a hill outside Antella, (http://www.villailcolle.it/). It was outside Florence, however, but it did have a courtesy shuttle van to get us into and out of Florence. All of which meant that we lost about 50 minutes each day in travelling, and thus saw less of Florence than we had planned as we did not have a car at this stage.
Tuscany (1 week)
We booked an apartment (L?Istrice) through La Bella Toscana (http://www.labellatoscana.net). This was in Pancole, at Fattoria di Pancole (http://www.fattoriadipancole.it/) a working vineyard. This meant that much wine was drunk during our stay. The apartment was 5 kms from San Gimignano (we had a car) and gave easy access to many parts of Tuscany
Venice
Our apartment was booked through Venice Apartments (http://www.veniceapartment.com). Once again we had ?water? troubles that meant we could not take the apartment, but we were offered three other apartments at the same price. We took Apartment Bazzini, in San Polo just near the Rialto Bridge, which was excellent and quiet?despite being about 100 metres from the Grand Canal.

Accommodation summary?all apartments were very clean, with much help and advice given when requested. We can recommend them all.
Transport
Rome
Transport was easy: we were 8 minutes from Ottaviano metro station and buses ran by the end of street. We bought weekly tickets which got us on the metro, the buses and the tram we took to the Auditorium
Train
We had no problems travelling first class from Rome to Florence and Florence to Venice.
Car hire
We had booked a car from Hertz before we left home, and we collected this at Florence Airport rather than in the city?on the advice of Bob the Navigator. It proved easy to get from the Airport along the Freeway to the s.222 for gorgeous drive into Tuscany. By the time we left the Freeway (about 20 minutes) I had decided I?d be able to cope with the left-hand drive, and so it proved. The car (Opel) was clean and easy to handle, though petrol prices were high by Australian standards. We returned the car to the Airport, but are now sorry we did not drive to Venice rather than take the train.
Venice
We used the vaporetto a great deal, and two 3-day vaporetto cards for us each saved a great deal of money.
Money
Money was spent on
? food, much of which we prepared ourselves,
? transport (in the cities, between the cities, to tourist places like Ostia Antica, Burano
? entry to places like the Sistine Chapel, the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace
? entertainments like Thomas Hampson at the Auditorium in Rome, or ?The Pearl Fishers? at the Teatro Malibran in Venice
? presents for family
? four stunning Duccio Nacci photos of Tuscany bought from La Bottega del Sale, in the Piazza del Duomo in San Gimignano?these formed our main souvenir of the trip.
Money totals
The following are in Australian dollars:

Travel (Air, car hire, travel insurance, airport shuttle, train tickets, vaporetto, petrol etc)?A$5,315

Accommodation?A$4875

Entertainment (2 concerts in Rome and opera in Venice)?A$366

Sightseeing (entry to churches, galleries etc)?A$565

Living (supermarket, meals, drinks, gelato, wine, toilet trips, newspaper each day)?A$1518

Souvenirs and presents?$317

Etc (phone card, post cards, stamps)?A$49


Total?A$13594

Living costs?A$47.40 per day

Entertainment+sightseeing+living?A$76.50 per day

By catering for ourselves we made a major reduction in the cost of the holiday. A typical lunch would be two unfilled bread rolls from the local baker (Eur 60c each) filled with cheese and tomato and a piece of fruit from the local market?total cost about Eur 3?4 for the two of us. Our evening meal would often be a salad followed by some yoghurt?the bottle of wine we usually consumed would be the main expense (wine usually about Eur 7?10.).

I hope this is of some help to others planning a trip to Rome and that they get as much enjoyment as did we.

An absolutely excellent trip report and would be helpful to people who aren't necessarily into self-catering I think.
Thanks very much for posting this.

Thanks very much for this informative report! Please, what is the exchange rate of A$ to Euros?

Something great to bookmark - I think I use it daily! www.xe.net/ucc

1 AUD = 0.59 EUR

Thanks Tassietiger! Looks like you had a great trip. I envy your 4 weeks in Italy. I tried to get 4 weeks next year but could only get 3.

I've tried to write down average expenses from my recent trips. It's helpful in planning future trips and interesting to look back to what I've spent in the past and see the inflation/exchange rate in Europe, especially post Euro.

Your apartment sites will be helpful in planning next year's trip to Italy (Rome, Amalfatani, Umbria, & Tuscany as far as Siena).

Can you tell me more about the concerts in Rome? Last year I went to La Traviata at St. Paul within the Walls church and loved it (booked through Cultural Italy, I think). I'd like to include more music in my forthcoming trips so am interested in any helpful web sites you may have on hand.

Thanks so much, Adrienne

Hi tt,

Thanks for an interesting report.

Adrienne - the two Rome concerts were (1) a night of opera favourites, also at St Pauls within the Walls, booked at the church, and (2)Thomas Hampson at the Auditorium, booked through the Accadamia del Santa Cecilia - http://www.santacecilia.it/. The first was fun and the second divine.

Very unique report and very helpful for many---Grazie !

Bob - you have made my day with your approval, you who have helped so many of us to enjoy Italy ! In my case it was the specific advice (given to another) to collect our hire car at Florence airport and not in the city itself. It certainly was tension-free for a driver who had never before driven on the right side of the road !

You are very welcome.
I often get questions about budget. Have you seen my budget article at slowtrav.com?