Your Air BnB recommendations for Rome, Venice, and Vernazza, please

As for Venice...We stayed here in April and it was a wonderful experience. Quiet Canarregio neighborhood on a quaint street between two canals, close to local restaurants. I would stay there again if I could. The host was very helpful and even met us at the train station and helped us to the apt. 2 large bedrooms.
Feel free to ask me questions. See listing below:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5486233?location=Venice&s=4pLWqUqw

try here for Vernazza:

http://www.elisabettacarro.it/

This place in Venice was great https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15234060

Has a washing machine/dryer, full kitchen, the door to the living room closes so you have 2 bedrooms that way, canal view from the living room.

The problem with asking for personal recommendations is that the places might not be available and you end up doing lots of contacts with little result. My strategy is to use VRBO.com and/or Booking.com and enter my criteria. They will have some inventory. I may very well select an apartment right away, but if I find a place I like that does not have availability on the booking engine (especially through Booking.com), I might contact them directly to see what they have that has not been released from their inventory. I also might contact an owner or manager through VRBO them to see if they can do better on the price I am seeing. This tactic works better for longer stays, although I have used it successfully on as few as 5 nights.

If I am not happy with what I am seeing, I will use Google with an entry like "Apartments in Venice" and see what pops up. There are some listing sites that do not duplicate their offerings on VRBO or Booking.com and only rent directly, but again, they have search tools that allow you to specify what you want and your dates so you can screen out the ones that do not suit you.

I am not a fan of AirBnB specifically because I think they are very rigid and I worry about the legality in some cities. It is a catchall noun these days (like Kleenex or Xerox) that sweeps in all apartment rentals, but be aware there are many channels to finding a vacation rental.

We stayed at this apartment in Venice and loved it. It is not on a canal, but has a wonderful rooftop deck with amazing views over Venice. We watched a storm roll through one night and have some great pictures. Just a warning that rooftop deck also means top floor apartment and there is no elevator, so you must walk up multiple flights (4 I think) of stairs.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2322785

Please read this from the General Europe Forum https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/airbnb-dfc0a7b0-336c-4bda-af6b-f6451afd72ab

I've used AirBnB as well as VRBO for a few of our family trips with good success (so far!) For our upcoming trip to Italy I've used primarily AirBnB (though I am using a local apartment rental in Bolzano and in Cortona.) Along the way I've learned a few things that are important to keep in mind.
1) Read the reviews. All the reviews! And make sure there are a lot of them (like at least 50 or more.) As I read the reviews, I'm skeptical of those that are written in broken English (my experience usually not a true review.) I also look for similarities in complaints (for example, one condo had their wifi on the fritz for two whole months per a bunch of reviews. Then it was fixed per more recent reviews and conversations with the condo owner.)
2) Are you more than two people traveling? My experience has been that AirBnb's or VRBO's are not less expensive if it is just two people traveling. A family of at least four, however, can save a bunch of money on lodging with these services. It also gives families (like mine) the flexibility to rest without disturbing one another, eat breakfast at 'home', allow any of us to get work/homework done in a quiet setting, and just generally spread out more. There is nothing more uncomfortable than four people squished into a small, European hotel room trying to 'relax.'
3) know if you are renting a 'room' or the 'whole house'. AirBnB let's hosts rent rooms only as well as a whole house. Be sure you know what you're getting when you look around. HomeAway only rents the whole house. VRBO, I believe, also only rents the 'whole house.'

Just know that with any rental--hotel, apartment or otherwise--you can have an unpleasant stay. I've stayed at wonderful 4 and 5 star hotels that were in serious need of cleaning (okay, not many but a couple.) Do your homework. Also, I have had to cancel reservations on AirBnB and it was very easy. It goes back to doing your homework. I always read the cancelation policies and the fine print.

We will be using AirBnB for our Venice, Cinque Terre and Rome stays. I would forward you the links but I haven't stayed in any of the places yet so cannot recommend. Poke around the web site, pick the areas you like the best, decide on your price point (you do get what you pay for BTW) and have fun. We've really liked using AirBnB and would not hesitate to recommend the service to anyone.

Thank you all for your recommendations and advice. I will say that my husband and I went to Spain in 2015 and stayed at multiple AirBnBs. (It was a last minute trip linked to work.) I was very skeptical then but am a believer now. I do look for Superhosts and very carefully read many comments and the rules and regulations before booking. With AirBnB I'd rather not have to pay up front, however, especially for any trip quite a bit into the future. You all have reminded me of some good alternatives. I also liked using Booking.com last big trip so I need to revisit that site. AirBnB, Trip Advisor, Booking.com, etc. are all great. I just wondered if any of you had come across a really special place in one of your visits to Rome, Venice, or Vernazza.

I grew up and lived in urban apartments for the first 25 years of my life. AirBnB is unfair to long term residents of multiple dwellings. It brings noise, banging luggage, and trash in the wrong places. Today, I live in a single-family-home town that has prohibited ANY short-term rentals. There is no Constitutional Right to sublet your residence. Please consider what you are doing. You are pretending to experience local life while actually harming it.

"There is no Constitutional Right to sublet your residence." Are you talking about Italy or the USA?
The USA has a constitutional right which does far more harm to it's citizens than subletting apartments does.

Hmm... And I thought my question was a simple one. :-)

What I'm a fan of is having an apartment to spread out in rather than just a hotel room. There will be 3-4 adults sharing a space. With that in mind (and whether it's Air BnB, HomeAway, VRBO, etc.), does anyone have a recommendation for at least a two bedroom apartment in Venice and Rome and a one bedroom apartment in Vernazza? Thanks!