Use VRBO to find place to stay in Florence and Cinque Terre?

I've used VRBO and Venere.com in the past to find places in Italy and Spain with pretty good success.

We have used VRBO to find places to stay thru out the world, with great success. Anytime we are going to stay 4 or more nites an apartment can be a wonderful option. We treat apartment rentals just like a hotel or B&B rental; use due diligence. Make sure that you follow VRBO's payment instuctions. Using a VISA is the best way to go. Ensure that there are plenty of good customer reviews, and that there are pics of everything that is important to you. Sometimes you can crosscheck the unit by reviews on Tripadvisor. We have also used Homelidays.com in the EU, when we could not find a place or price we needed on VRBO. Do not pick any rental until you check out the actual location. Get the address and use Google Street View to confirm the neighborhood and location. Remember that the first floor is actually the second floor in the EU. If it is up any higher, ensure that there is a working elevator. And it is really important to have a local contact in case you have any problems or concerns. We also go to Trip Advisor and sort thru their top hotel, B&B, apt, etc picks, and really scrutize the top ones with the best/lowest prices. We have found lots of awesome places that way. In Italy we found Agritourisimos to be a fantastic value, but many require a car, since they generally are outside of town. We always buy trip insurance. It always nice to know that all of your trip is covered.

We've also used VRBO in Europe and the US with great success, including condos in Colorado Ski Country - many places in Vail are listed on VRBO! We've always found the lodging to be accurately represented and priced accordingly. Using a credit card and confirming the address, and having a local contact are the way to go. In Europe, there's generally been a person to deliver the key to us and to show us the place when "checking in." We've also found wonderful places in Italy thru Vacanze In Famiglia. Most of their properties are spare rooms or apartments adjacent to the owner-Italian family's home. Their "vacanzeinfamiglia.it" Website is in Italian but with English translation. They have listings in much of Italy, definitely have properites in Firenza, but maybe not currently any in the Cinque Terre. Good luck & good travels!

Thank you so much for all the tips. I think I'll check out VRBO a bit closer now.

You can try www.homeaway.com -same company as VRBO - you are renting from owners, not an agency so you have to check references, call them and send a deposit, not the whole amount. Homeaway offers insurance. I think VRBo may also. Also, you can try www.airbnb.com - they hold the money until you've been in the apartment 24 hours so you have an assurance that the rental exists. I have rented using VRBO in North America and Europe. No problems so far. Do ask for extra photos of the place.

Astrid, my husband and I rented an apartment in Florence in October using VRBO and we were very pleased. We found everything to be as advertised and we would definitely rent the apartment again.