need an answer ASAP Please!

Ellen, Vodafone doesn't seem to be as common as you've been led to believe. Here's the only one I could find anywhere near you:

417 VIA DEL CORSO

The locator site for Italy is, oddly enough, in Italinan. I can read it. If you can't, don't try -- the layout itself is very confusing.

Corso is the street that dead-ends at the front of the Victor Emanual Memorial. It's about a bit more than a half mile north of the memorial. If you're going to metro it, get off at the Spanish Steps and head west on Condotti three or four blocks and hook a left on Corso.

I'm not saying this will solve your problem, just telling you where a Vodafone place is.

Thanks Ed- I know where that is. I will try it in the morning.
& you are right that these places selling the phones are not all over as I have read. Interestingly- had to go to 3 "tabachi" shops to get an international phone card too, yet Rick Steves' books (& others) makes it sound as if they are also easily gotten- Frustrating!
I did NOT get a pre-paid phone in the US because quite a few sources I checked said they were so easy to get here- I regret the decision....

Ellen,

You might also check Termini station, as there's a "mini-Mall" on the lower floor. When I was there recently, I seem to recall seeing several Phone shops. TIM is one of the biggest networks, so should have stores there.

You may have to provide your Passport and be "registered" to purchase the phone, so be sure to take that with you.

Good luck and happy travels!

I just wanted to let you know what happened with my search for a pay-as-you-go phone. There was a WIND store in Termini- no such phones there but they sent people upstairs to a TIM store (the person in front of me in line asked). Unfortunately, I did not have time to go up there because our train was coming. WE went on to Terni where we were picking up our rental car. The people at rental/auto dealer were great- told us to go back down the street to MEDIAWORLD to get the phone there- then offered to lead us there. A young woman set up the phone with a SIM & minutes & off we went into Umbria (where we had no internet for the week- hence the delay in replying.
The phone has come in handy when we got lost today on the way to our hotel in Siena- which leads me to the 2nd thing I regret- not getting or bringing a GPS! It was tough in those Umbrian hill towns to find our way around! But we survived, we are traveling in Tuscany now, then on to Venice & Vienna.
Thanks for the help!

Well done, Ellen! All of that and no pickpockets to boot.

Ken wins for the best idea.

Absent a GPS, use bread crumbs. That's the way we did it in the old days.

re: the GPS- yes, I kept telling myself- lots of people have done this without GPS but I think having one COULD have made many trips around Umbrian hill towns much less stressful- depending on the quality of the GPS I'm told. Our neighbors at the apt. rental had one & were delighted. We got lost almost everyday!
so- note to self & recommendation to anyone who'll take my advice- get a cell in the US & bring a GPS or be sure your rental car has one.
we get rid of the car Tuesday in Florence & "train it" from there on- whew!

Ellen, we had GPS on our iPhone and I can tell you that helped us so much even while walking. I know there was a time we did not have these things, but now that we do, why shouldn't we use them?

Glad everything worked out. I guess you now have a "note to self" for your next trip, huh? LOL

Then after we got lost because birds ate the bread crumbs, we invented maps. ;)

Is it really so bad getting lost in the hill towns of Umbria? Is it dangerous in any way? I'm just asking because normaly it's fun to be lost. Plus, I'd sooner invest in a good road atlas than be annoyed by a voice telling me how to drive. A friend of mine has a GPS. She was doing me a favor one day by picking me up and dropping me off somewhere but all I wanted to do was throw that obnoxious thing out the window.