how to take out a lot of cash?!

Elizabeth, One method would be to take at least two ATM cards on different accounts. If you withdraw the maximum amount for a couple of days, you should easily have enough to cover the rental. It would be prudent to review your daily withdrawal limits and perhaps have those increased for the duration of your trip. It might be an idea to also obtain €300-500 from your Bank to cover the cash you'll need for "other things". Be sure to notify all financial institutions that you'll be travelling abroad, so they don't "freeze" your cards. Also, note that travel funds must usually be in a chequing account with a four-number PIN. Happy travels!

Elizabeth, ATMs (bancomats) are the easiest and cheapest way to get euro. Check with your bank to verify your limit is high enough to cover the amount you want, if not, ask them to raise the limit. On joint accounts sometimes the limit is per card not account so two cards could each take out the limit on the same account. Open another account to increase the amount you can withdraw. It is also a good idea for a backup. Look for the best deal for this new travel account. See http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange You want a low(or Zero) foreign transaction fee and a low or zero charge for out of network fees. Italian banks will not charge you for using their bancomats. On the back of your ATM or debit card you need a Visa - Plus or MasterCard - Cirrus symbol.
The Italian bank ATM may have a transaction limit (the amount you can pull out at one time), usually between 250 and 500 euro, but you can perform multiple transactions until you reach your bank's daily limit.

We raised our daily limit per person to $1000 and were able to use our two different cards (on the same account) to access this each day if necessary. Since Bank of America is partners with BNL, we took out the maximum whenever we passed a BNL so no fees were charged, either.

Most Italian banks have a transaction limit so you'll need to make at least two transactions to take out that much cash. Have your bank at home raise your limit for daily withdrawls so you can get what you need. Donna

We went with some Euros but had three atm cards so taking out an amount of cash was easy. We also like to have mutli cards because we had an atm machine 'eat' one of our cards once and it was a real pain getting cash. Having the mulit cards made it easy. We cancelled the card that got 'eaten' and used the others. It also serves your purpose of getting more money. Most atms do have limits ranging from 200 euros to 500.

We're in a very rural part of Italy now and we didn't have any problem paying our landlord - three ATM
cards accessed all the cash we needed.

If you each have an ATM card for the same account, you each can make a withdrawal from that account at the same time. Of course, each of you is limited to your daily withdrawal limit. Also, like previous posters have said, go to your bank and have your withdrawal limits increased. At the same time, make sure they know you will be travelling overseas otherwise they could freeze your accounts. When using the ATM, if the ATM spits out your card and a message comes up saying to contact your bank, most likely you have asked for more Euros than your daily limit allows. Try again and ask for a lesser amount of money. We also have several banks we can withdraw from. Sometimes you don't realize you have depleted your account or your card just doesn't work at that ATM. Have a great trip!

Some banks will allow you to change your daily limit, most won't. If not, you have two choices. Convert cash ahead of time and carry it with you or open several accounts and bring a card for each to multiply your daily limit. Make sure your accounts charge reasonable fees (a few choices charge nothing, many charge 1% flat rate, the bad choices charge a flat fee plus 3%). I'd go with the second option (especially if you can transfer money between the accounts because then a lost/stolen card isn't a very big deal) a back-up card is always a good idea and there's risk in carrying a lot of cash, but choose what you are comfortable with. I might be forgetting another option.

I had no problem getting my daily limit raised at two of our banks. Since we each have a card to each account it made getting large amounts of euro quite easy. Call your bank and see if it's possble to raise your daily limit. You may have to make multiple withdrawals.

In addition to what Vernon said about needing a four digit pin number, you also cannot have a pin number that starts with zero in Europe...or at least that used to be true. I had to change mine. Kaye
Folsom, CA

Kaye, Actually you don't need a four digit PIN, most Italian PINs are five digits. There is no problem using PINs that start or contain zeroes.

I have an ATM card with a zero at the start of the PIN and it works everywhere I try to use it throughout Europe.