flight plans to Italy

Your initial flight search is what we call "open jaw" (as opposed to round-trip)
Sometimes the open jaw airfare will appear higher than round-trip airfare--if you only look at the price of the airfares--but when you factor in the cost and time savings of open jaw (avoiding back-tracking from Rome to Venice, or Venice to Rome), open jaw sometimes turns out to be the better choice.
You have to price it both ways and then factor in the open jaw savings in time and train cost to back-track.

Regarding airfare price levels in general, unfortunately airfares in general are high, higher than they have been in previous years (despite the lower fuel prices). But the dollar versus the Euro probably says 20% or 25%, over recent years, so what can you say?

While it is hard to disagree with Kent, I do on this one point. We use open jaw ticket (multi-city) for nearly every trip. It is rare to find open jaw tickets more expensive than single point round trip tickets. Just as often find them cheaper especially if both legs are direct. Now I do consider + or - hundred dollars as being nearly the same. The leg to Venice probably will add to the cost. But you might consider into Milan and home from Rome.

"Open jaw" is not two one-way tickets. Use the "Multi-city" option on the flight website to find tickets into Venice and out of Rome. They should be little more than or the same as round-trip--but note that flying into or out of Venice is usually more expensive than other airports in Italy. Milan is usually the cheapest. It is a 2 3/4 hour train ride from Milan to Venice.

I don't disagree with Frank, I think we're basically saying the same thing.
The airfare may seem high, but Italy is more miles away from N. America than is a location like London or Paris. As a very rough rule of thumb, other things being equal (which they never are), airfares tend to be related to miles flown. And it depends on the time of year and where you're starting from (airfares from the US West Coast will be higher than airfares from Atlanta).

Don't know what your schedule is for next year. But just did a little playing around for early Oct, middle of the week, three weeks apart, and with Denver as a base.

Den - Venice and Rome- Denver $1350
Den - Rome - Denver $1250
Den - Milan and Rome - Denver $1098

The train to Milan with advance purchase is under $50. Easy to go into Milan and catch the train to Venice. In that case even with the train cost the open jaw ticket is cheaper than a RT to Rome. And it does not have to be just out and back. Multi-legged trips on one ticket can save a lot. Our next trip this Oct will be Denver - Istanbul and Ankra - Paris - Denver over a five week period. All one ticket. Not book yet but it looks like the total trip will be less than $2000. Kind of watching for 1700, 1800. Hitting Paris for a few days to break up the return flight.

I did a lot of searching with different combinations last month and finally bought a flight from DC to Milan and return from Rome. It was cheaper than an round trip to/from Rome, and not much more than round trip to/from Milan, and when I added in the cost to get to Milan from Rome, it worked out cheaper.

Use the multi city or on some airlines the advance search tab.

If flying into Milan Malapensa (MXP) flights are less expensive, but figure how much it will cost

to travel from there to your destinations.

You would need to take the express train http://www.malpensaexpress.it/en/malpensa-express/timetable.aspx from the airport to Milano Centrale. 56 min. 12 euro.

Then use http://www.trenitalia.com/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=4ddd1a035296f310VgnVCM1000005817f90aRCRD

for train tickets. Stations you would use are. Milano Centrale-Venezia S. Lucia.

Your return from Rome would be Roma Termini-Milano Centrale, then the express

back to the airport. Cost of these tickets should be around $95. Make sure you book

a hotel in Milan the night before your flight. Don't try to do the train and flight on the same day.

Wow!
thanks much for the info! including the websites and the rough idea on flight costs. I was beginning to get wobbly knees thinking this might be too expensive. I see that its doable... with some research.
Louise

We've booked our tickets to Italy and France using the "multi city" option on the Delta site and it was actually the same as doing a round-trip to/from one of the major cities. Hopefully you find something that works!

"Multi-city" or "advanced search" are, indeed, your keywords for avoiding high one-way airfares.

Just look at a round trip to Milan. It is only about 2 1/2 hours to Venice SL and full fare is 37.50 euro. Rome to Milano Centrale is 3 hours and you should be able to get a 49 euro Economy and possibly a 27 euro Super Economy ticket. Then you can make a decision. Milan is just about the cheapest ticket to Europe these days.
Open jaw is not the end all and be all.