I'm about to go to Italy myself. I'm using AA miles b/c of the off-peak awards and the 10% rebate from using the AA card, so it's only costing me 36k miles. As everyone else has mentioned, you should rely on AirBerlin or AA if you're using AA miles, in order to avoid the BA surcharges.

Since you're originating in NY, you actually have a good chance to take advantage of a free one-way or two. MileValue has a great explanation of all this for AA awards here. It's a great way to increase the value of your award redemption. United is also a great option for free one-ways as well and MileValue has some great articles on that too.

Good luck and have a great time!