We had a cash-on-arrival arrangement with an apartment rental we had last summer - I think the total was 800 euros. It wasn't difficult to accumulate that cash from ATMs over the course of a few days. My husband just kept the cash in a security pocket (pocket that attaches to a belt and rides inside the pants). It wasn't difficult.

Have your bank increase your daily imit before you go. Withdraw from an ATM. If you hit the ATM (not your bank) limit simply do a second or third transaction.
I have done this in Canada, the US, France and Greece so can't see why it would be a problem in Italy.

Do ATMs in Italy have a max limit on how much you can withdraw in one transaction? But even if they do, that doesn't mean you can't withdraw from more than 1 ATM on one day.

I just came back from Spain and withdrew €500 from the airport ATM in 1 single setting. I've previously checked with my bank and my daily withdrawal limit is set at $1000, so taking out 500 euro is not a problem.

I put the money in my moneybelt, arrived at the apartment, handed over the money and was done with it. I only had that much money on me for no more than a couple of hours. My bank charged me 1% Forex fee and nothing else.

yk - Many machines have limits per transaction and most I've encountered in Italy are 250€. Normally you can do a second transaction right after the first until you reach the dollar limit imposed by your own bank for daily withdrawals. There have been one or two people report problems with multiple large transactions within minutes as their home bank starts assuming fraud.

StCirq wrote:

<< Yes, un assegno turistico is a traveler's check. >>

Thanks, StCirq! I appreciate your confirming that -- we'll be e-mailing the Ca Angeli tomorrow and knowing the right term may well aid understanding.

beeswing

My experience has been the same as kybourbon's, 250euro per transaction inspite of what my bank allowed. But thankfully I never had my bank assume it was fraud when I took out a second amount at another ATM, this being in Italy. I have had problems however getting any money out of some ATM's in Italy, even Italian friends tried with no luck. Never understood why but using another ATM would work just fine so imagine the first ATM was out of cash.