sarge56

Andrea, I highly, highly recommend apartments for your family. Not only are they usually much cheaper than hotels, but having the kitchen allows breakfast at home, snacks at home, etc. Outside of lodging, eating out in Italy can be very expensive. Of course, if you have kids, you can usually find great pizza at reasonable prices.

I can highly recommend sleepinitaly.com and vrbo.com. I've had wonderful experiences with both. (One apt in Venice and one in Rome. Unfortunately, neither large enough for five.)

Try to remember this before you go... something WILL go wrong. Somewhere. Anything from getting lost to being pickpocketed. DON'T let it ruin your vacation! Move past it and continue on. My daughter and I had a motto (after missed trains or downpour of rain)... "How bad can it be???? We're in Italy!"

Have a wonderful trip! (And ignore the turkeys who come here only to kvetch to your posts.)

sarge56

PS. You are doing a wonderful thing for your kids. They will remember this trip their entire lives. (And everyone should learn a little preliminary Italian before departure! Buon viaggio!