Currency exchange??????

Don't "change" money at all. Just use the ATM.

I agree with Tim. We brought some Euros with us, just in case, but didn't really need to. Exchange rate is best at the ATM machines which are all over Italy. Use Capital One cards....they do not charge any extra fees as most other banks do.

Use your debit card to withdraw money from any ATM. If you must exchange, use an American Express office.

The most you can get for your dollar is to use the ATMs in Rome once you arrive. Banks here will charge you 5% or so. AAA will also charge you similar fees. If you try to exchange in Europe you will see higher fees. Yes, there are fees on ATM withdrawls for most bank cards. However, there are a few organizations that minimize fees. Credit One and Charles Schwab are headed in that direction.

We set up two Capital One accounts before we went last month - a credit card and a money market account. The CC we used for purchases (esp. restaurants and hotels) and the MM as a debit card at ATMs everywhere. Capital One doesn't charge any international fees as long as you choose that option when you first set up the accounts. It can take a few weeks to set both up, so you might just have enough time. It seems to be the best deal out there.

We did take some cash with us to pay up front for the rental apartment in Rome, and I HATED having to pay the much higher exchange rate here at my bank in the US.

(In case you didn't know, when you buy euros here you don't get the rate that you commonly hear on the news. That's for huge quantities of money. Instead, you'll pay a much higher rate for small amounts of cash. But when you use your ATM card over there, you get the better exchange rate since your bank bundles that in with all the other transactions to get the better rate.)

I agree with all the above- use ATM's. We wanted to avoid per transaction fees so we wanted to take larger amounts and many italian banks would only allow 250 euro at a time but the deutsche bank would allow us more. Remember to increase your amt with your bank as to withdrawal amts.

Careful == everyone takes their personal experience and assumes it applies to everyone else. Not all banks charge an ATM access fee. All fees are determined by the network and the card issuer. Call your card issuer for fee info.

Use the ATM machines just as you would do here in the States. Just let your bank know that you will be in Italy and they can note it in your file. DO NOT carry all your money to Italy!!!!!!