Need large amount of Euros for Italy rental

Buy 1500 in euro-denominated travelers checks and cash them at a bank when you get over there. American Express sells these.

Contact your bank and get your ATM limit raised. While you are there, find out which Italian bank(s) your bank has an arrangement with allowing you to withdraw this much cash at one time. You will need this info as even if you get your daily limit raised you will only be able to get over a fixed amount, say, 200 euros, by using the ATM at a partnered bank.

Travelers checks are dinosaurs. They come with sizeable fees, even banks can be reluctant to cash them, and you have to go to a bank during business hours to do so.

I suggest that you open an account with XE Trade. Money will be taken from your checking account by electronic transfer and converted to the currency of your choice. You then have several options for getting the money to the landlord in Italy: 1. Have the money deposited by electronic transfer directly into the landlord's bank account. 2. Have a bank draft in euro made payable to the landlord and sent to Italy by regular mail. 3. Have a bank draft in euro made payable to the landlord but mailed to your home. Hand it over in person when you arrive in Italy.

There are no fees for any of these options. You also can do a wire transfer, but there is a fee for that.

The exchange rate will be only slightly above the international rate on the day the transaction is initiated. (XE Trade does have to make a little money on the deal.)

For security reasons it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but everything goes swiftly and smoothly after that.

I stayed at a villa in Tuscany a couple years ago and they agreed to take the balance in Euro denominated travelers checks upon arrival. I don't normally use travelers checks, but in this case it worked out great.

You can try and ING account online. Or UBS/Swiss one. Could try an italian one but ING might be more global. Citi bank is bit - contact them for international!