What are the chances of finding same-night modestly priced rooms available in small Italian resort towns around late May? Won't be able to arrive early or have a car to move from candidate to candidate. Also concerned this will be an unusually busy season, but I just can't live with the poor choice of hotels listed online for Garda and Ligurian coast. thanks...

Late May will be different, but we were in Italy for 5 weeks up until mid April and would have had no trouble finding a room. We actually booked all accommodation from home which did make it easier in lots of ways but made it inflexible. There were 1 or 2 places where we could have had less time but it was no big deal.
I would have at least one good guide book, or notes from internet research, and ring ahead, either from the train station when you arrive - this will save walking from place to place trying to find somewhere - or ring that morning, if you know where you intend to end up. If you are going to ring, a bit of basic Italian will be handy. You could try the tourist offices in each place once you arrive but we found them either closed, or in most cases very unhelpful.
We stayed in Manarola on the Ligurian coast and I think if you intend staying in that area and get stuck, there will be more choices in Monterosso or try Levanto which is the next town north of CT. Santa Margherita Ligure is a lovely town, with lots of choices too.
Kay

The peak season for Italian holidaymakers starts in mid-July, so May will be quiet midweek but possibly busy at weekends. It's fairly easy to arrive in an Italian town and find a hotel near the railway station - if you want to stay for more than one night, you can look for somewhere better in the morning. It's difficult to generalise, but I've been to Italy in May and June without having any problems.

Viking, have you tried finding hotels in guidebooks (either camp out in the book store with pen and paper, or else buy a pile of them)? Then e-mail the hotels directly? More than once? I chose a hotel in Rome that I really wanted using this method. I tried nightly for a week to get reservations, and one night suddenly it worked...I think somebody else must have cancelled.

I didn't like the choices of hotels when I went to the on-line general travel sites.

Good luck!

Also, try looking on www.tripadvisor.com Type in your destination such as "Rome hotels". It will list the top hotels with guest reviews. Send out a dozen e-mails to your top choices, and you are more likely to find an opening. (If it's a small town there might not be a dozen choices!)

HI,
We were in Italy in the beginning of July for 21/2 weeks 2 years ago and did not have reservations except in
Rome. We drove around Tuscany and Umbria and never had a problem. We also stayed in Levanto for 3 nights. You should be OK and it could be a great adventure. But then again without a car, who knows. Calling ahead is a good idea. We traveled this way in Greece for 2 weeks in the beginning of July and always found nice places to stay. Good luck. I'm jealous.