Rome, Florence, Venice
 

I am taking my 73 old Mom and 3 sisters (one of them will turn 50 on our first night in Venice) to Italy April 11-19 th. any ideas for hotels (preferably no more than $200 a night) , personal tour guides and restaurants?

Let's start with $200 a night. Per person, per room or total for the 5 of you? How many persons per room do you anticipate?

How many days in each place? BTW: way too short of a time to really see all 3 of these cities.

You may want to re-post this question on the Europe board, which gets much more action.

Welcome to Fodors eperris. To expand on abram's post (since you are new to the site and may not know the 'lay of the land') - See the 'Change Forum' pull down menu at the top of this page? Click that and go over to the Europe board. There you can start a new thread and tag it for Italy. Also, you can go to the Europe Forum and use the 'view by country' pull down menu to isolate threads just about Italy and read LOTS of good info/advice.

Have a great trip! Several years ago I devised a trip with to Italy my 4 sisters, 3 of whom had never been.

We had two weeks for Lake Como, Venice, Ravenna, and Rome. Since we went during high season we skipped Florence.

Were I in your shoes I would consider apartments, or if you are sure about Florence, I would stay at a villa outside of town, like Villa L'Olmo in Ipruneta, where you could get a separate unit or apartments to work with your configuration. Then you could take the local bus into Florence. Depends how much city you want vs. country etc. With all major cities and at a popular time of year, I think cities will be expensive (Venice definitely).

You are likely too late for Locanda Orseolo in Venice, as they are extremely popular, but they do have potentially a triple or two. Otherwise again consider an apartment. Lots of Fodorites have recommendations for apts.

OK, just some thoughts. I agree you'll get more help in the Europe forum.

That would be a lot of ground for your mom to cover in a short amount of time. I learned the hard way! For a week long stay I would suggest splitting between Rome and Florence. Its so beautiful you need to take a little time to enjoy.

I do agree that it would be best to go for 1-2 out of the 3.

Pensione La Calcina is a beautiful hotel in Venice. I believe it's in your price range.
www.lacalcina.com