Can't really help much on travel agents but don't understand why a local Italian agency can't help you rather than BA who are after all not even the local national carrier.

On hotels at that price in central London you are looking at the budget hotel chains. Try Travel Lodge or Travel Inn chains. You might get a deal out of Ibis or Holiday Inn Express but you might be struggling at £50.00.

You don't mention the dates of travel but if you intend to stay during student vacation periods you might want to consider staying at vacant student accommodation. After many years of investment they are now usually decent quality (but may not all be ensuite) another advantage is that self catering makes eating better value - eating out in London is not cheap. Try these links:


University of London Accommodation Office: http://housing.london.ac.uk/cms/shor...residence.html
Claredale House / Sir John Cass Hall: http://www.cassandclaredale.co.uk
IES Student Residence Hall: http://www.iesreshall.com
International Students House (ISH): http://www.ish.org.uk/accommodation/Short+Stay
King's College London: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/structure...o/accomodation
London School of Economics: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/vacations
University of Westminster: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/comserv
Shaftesbury Student Housing: http://www.summerbreaks.org

I have no conection with any of them but I am sure they will try to be helpful.