Touring Tuscany and Cinque Terre in late August.

What are your interests and concerns?

It was hot, very hot and crowded. What else do you want or need to know?

Since we are not a great fan of sweltering heat and crowds, I think you have answered my question. We would want to be hiking, visiting vineyards, and that might be hard in heat.
Air fares and hotels were proving to be a much better deal in August as opposed to September and or October, and I was hoping we could economize by going at that time period. Thanks for the input.

You're looking at airfares for September and October way too early (almost a year from now) - that's why you're not finding any deals. Start looking at fares 8 months out at the earliest and just watch them over several months. There is no reason to think that you cannot find good fares either in Spring or Fall - obviously not in the "peak" tourist seasons but definitely sometime in the shoulder months. I travel almost always in October and the fares and lodging are not difficult to find at reasonable rates.

Depending on how sensitive you are to heat and crowds, September may still be uncomfortable. We went early to mid September in 2010 and did a basic Venice-Florence-Rome trip and it was very warm at times, particularly in Rome. Being from Houston we are used to the heat and it was not unbearable for us and while it was not peak season there were still crowds. That was also slightly prior to the tourist explosion that has hit Cinque Terre in recent years.