How do we not blow our wallet in Italy?

We saved a lot by getting food at the super market and making breakfast and some lunches for ourselves. That was more feasible because we rented an apartment rather than a hotel room, which also saved us some money.

Maybe I had a strange experience, but I didn't find Italy more expensive than most of the rest of Europe. I found that Barcelona, Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, etc., all as or more expensive than Italy!Cheap food is easy in Italy. Lunch is easy because you can go into a market and get a little panini or slice of pizza for just a couple euros or put together nice salami and cheese and olives and stuff. I don't think I spent more than 20 euros for dinner and that was at a place where I got a salad, and a main course, and a dessert! most of my dinners were around 10-13 euros. One place in Rome I had antipasto, a small bottle of house white wine, and a pizza for app11 euros including service!You will save money by getting off the beaten track, especially in Venice where I found the prices went way down when I got out of the tourist hotbeds. And even if you do go to a sit-down restaurant, you don't have to order all the courses. A salad and pasta would run you not much more than 10 euros in any of the places I went and was more than enough to eat. Or you can always split a pasta with your boyfriend and I saw people split pizzas too. Even Venice I didn't find as expensive as people said. I would say, save for dinner every night and eat just a croissant and coffee for breakfast if your hotels don't offer it (mine did) and do quick street/carryout food for lunch and you should be fine on about 40 euros a day for food if you're careful (probably you could get out for a bit less too).Inexpensive lodging is out there, I didn't pay more than 100 euros for any of my 3 hotels and they were all 2-3 star hotels with private baths, and everything i'd need. Hostels would be even less if you are willing to go there. Rick's books have good suggestions or go to the Italian forums on Tripadvisor and search hotels/hostels and you will get tons of info. Anyway, fear not, I think it's easy to be on a budget in Italy and still enjoy all of its flavors, sights, and wonders. :)

Alot of what other posters said is true except Italy and British Isles is alot more expensive to me and documented in my consecutive 7 yrs of european travel. You will need to figure your budget ahead of time for Italy. Then work the numbers and see if you can swing it. Tight budget is too vague.

Another option to consider is alternate cities adjacent to Venice like Mestre, would save alot in lodging.

In restaurants we bought a glass of wine instead of the bottle, no espresso or dessert after dinner. Course never miss the opportunity for a gelato. Lunches were rarely sit down. Cash discounts in hotels and in December you should find some great prices. Go to www.tripadvisor.com and look at B&B listings. One of our nicest places with the best bathroom was a small inn, Magnolia, in Orvieto for 65 euros! I'm not sure if Sorrento will be very fun in December. Train tickets were ICPlus 2nd class with Amica fares (20% discounted).No taxis and lots of walking. We also realized that we didn't need to go into every museum we saw. Italy is usually one of the better values in Europe.

We rented apartments through VRBO.com and saved a lot over hotels. It also gave us a washer and a kitchen. Our cheapest meal was in a town outside Naples: Pizza, beer, wine and water for 20E. That's 5E a person! Most nights we ordered only pasta and wine and sometimes split a meat course or dessert. A 2E gelato at 4:00 in the afternoon will keep you from ordering all 3 courses at dinner.

So would it be feasible to stay in say...Tuscany and then use that as a jumping off point to go to different places all over Italy? Perhaps we would rent a car or use trains and buses.

Actually now that I think about it, renting an apartment won't work for our entire stay in Italy unless we want to stay local because every place that we want to go seems to be at least 3 to 6 hours away so we won't have much time to explore the cities.

Expense in Italy is highly variable depending on where you stay and where you eat. Venice has a number of budget hotels with bathroom down the hall. Google the Hotel Santa Lucia for an idea.

You can eat very inexpensively as others point out here. All cities have take-away pizza. Venice and other northern cities have cheap sandwiches in their cafes (and very good). There are budget cafeteria-type places such as Brek in Venice where you can get pasta dishes, etc for not much.

Perhaps if you give an idea of what you think your budget per day for sleeping and eating is, I could be more useful.

Down the line of the other comments there are ways to save money in Italy. Going to a market and buying food and beverages is a good way to do it. You may find it is more to your liking quite frequently anyway. You get the food the way you like it. It also allows you to have great views - because you can have a picnic anywhere. Another thing to consider to keep your costs down is ordering at a counter - some/many places in Italy charge a service fee to order at the table. The nice thing about Italy is of course the pasta - you can have pasta that will satisfy your hunger and it is inexpensive. I agree with Debra - away from the tourist areas you will get better prices - and I frequently think the food is better the further you get away from the tourist areas anyway. Really a double benefit - better food less money. I think you can get some good deals on lodging through tripadvisor.com - I have always been happy with that site. Also pay attention to this site for comments/posts other people have as others pose questions on similiar topics. There is a wealth of information in here.

A few other money-saving hints:
1) Check out the Beehive in Rome for cheap accommodations - nice hostel rooms and cheap singles with a bath down the hall.
2) Ask how much something costs if you're not sure ("Quanto costa?") - things like the house wine, bottled water are usually cheap, if it pays to check to avoid unpleasant surprises. If it's too much just say "troppo car" (too expensive) - don't be shy about asking.
3) Tavola caldos (literally "hot tables") are a great cafeteria-style alternatives for a cheap meal. Brek is a good Italian chain, there is one in Venice near the train station and they are in other cities as well.

A lot of Italy can be done cheaply. Unfortunately Rome, Sorrento, Florence and Venice aren't among those places. In general, escape the heavy tourist areas. Find where the working class lives, shops and eats.

The other major thing you can control is the timing of your visit. In shoulder or low season, you are a lot more likely to find cheap lodging options and can save on transportation.

Yes it can be expensive but you can do it on a budget. There are some great ideas in the other posts. I found Venice very expensive and lived on a pieces of pizza and gelati for lunch and a bowl of pasta for dinner. Staying out of Venice proper will save you money and also in the other cities the further out of the centre you stay the cheaper the hotels. Use buses, trains and your feet to get about. You are also travelling during winter which will possibly make the hotel rates better.

There are cafeteria-type places to eat in Venice. One is at the train station; another is on the main walk toward San Marco. In Italy I have cappuccino and a brioche for breakfast, fortified with yogurt or cereal in my room. Fresh fruit and veggies are readily available. Bakeries are fairly inexpensive places to find breads and pastries. There are grocery stores in all the places you mention; browse and buy some things to keep in your room. Many of the less fancy restaurants will serve just pasta or salad or pizza at reasonable prices. If you are really hungry and can't afford restaurant dinners, fill up on bread, cheese, and fruit; drizzle olive oil on your bread for extra calories and nutrition. Hostels will usually serve you a simple breakfast at no extra cost, so they are a good deal. The Hostel in Sorrento was giving away discount coupons for a local restaurant when I stayed there.

Hostels are the way to go - In Rome, the Beehive was outstanding, super clean, so close to the train station, and they have a great cafe downstairs - breakfast for two was never more than about 5 euro. I did not stay in Sorrento, but stayed in Naples instead. Naples itself is not a city I would really recommend, but the hostel there, Hostel of the Sun, was the best that I stayed at in 5 weeks of European travel. They make free pasta once a week, breakfast is free every day, and the dorms were 17 euro for a bed in an 8-person room. The staff was amazing, and travel to Pompeii, Sorrento, and the Amalfi coast was easy, plus food was very cheap - my friend and I ordered pizza and pasta for 8 euro, and we had enough left over for lunch the next day (the hostel orders it for you, and delivery is free!). In Florence, we stayed at Ostello Santa Monica, which isn't the most beautiful hostel in the world, but it was clean, cheap, and had a fridge, microwave, and hotplates that guests could use to cook their own meals, and a small grocery store is right next door. In Venice, we splurged and stayed at a B&B, since it was the end of the trip, but there is a youth hostel, though I haven't heard great things about it. The B&B was called RoomInVenice, it was about 75 euro a night for a double room with a shared bathroom, and it was great - clean, friendly, and only minutes from the Rialto Bridge and San Marco.
To save money on food, I ate breakfast at my hostel, when it was free, or bought pastries and fruit. Then lunch was usually a piece of pizza or a sandwich, or salad and bread from a grocery store. In the afternoon, we always had gelato, and then for dinner we ate at restaurants about half the time, and the other half we cooked at the hostel, or bought cheese, bread, and fruit - cheese is so cheap in Italy. Some days we only spent about 10 euro each on food. Let me know if you have any specific questions about any of these hostels!

Try this website for lodging www.cross-pollinate.com It is a bed and breakfast and apartment booking agency that is owned and operated by am American family living in Rome. I have stayed with them many times and the prices were always reasonable. Have fun

I agree with everyone else :-) plan your meals and shop locally, think about an apartment rather than hotel, etc. (I have also had good luck with vrbo...as a renter and owner) -

my BEST advice though?

save the "nice" meals for Sorrento and the south...even Sorrento (i.e. very touristy) will be MUCH, MUCH cheaper than your other destinations! eat well in the South and conserve (or try to) in Rome and Venice! I ALWAYS blow my budget (unintentionally) in Rome and Venice (don't spend as much time in Florence really) - for example...and modest meal in Rome for my family of 3 (2 adults and a 7yr old) will cost us about 100 euro - same in Venice (if we're lucky)...they VERY same meal will be about 25-30 Euros (w/ wine) in our town in Campania (!) and not more than 60 on the Amalfi coast (unless you are going somewhere fancy) pizza, of course, will be cheaper in all locations.

Dorothy, Lots of good advice... in Venice consider taking the vaporetto to Lido, a working class neighborhood. We had a great lunch there for very reasonable prices. Two best economic residences I recommend were Pensione Guerrato in Venice (see Rick's book) Get one of the rooms with the bath downb the hall... it was very easy for us and we are seniors and our favorite of favorite's Laura's La Magnolia in Lucca. (75 Euros paying cash... parking 8 if you need it.) Lucca was a great spot to spend four days as a base to visit other places and more moderate prices in a very special place. Have a great trip. George, Pittsburgh