Updating this in case someone else in a similar situation happens upon this thread:

As suggested by star_world, we made regular bookings at a hotel chain website. Since we also needed to show how we were going to do our inter-city travel we made car rental bookings with Hertz. We waited for a few days until after our visas were approved, and then made our final hotel and train bookings.

Not wanting to take any chances, we faxed our new plans to the consulate. They didn't contact us for any more information, and we didn't have any trouble at all in Italy.

In fact, we had the most amazing two weeks there. It was a dream come true, and FT made it possible!