FCO is a tough TATL origin/destination for *A, and tougher still in C because they will try to sell it this far out, rather than open I.
I'd recommend searching through easier award destinations and *A hubs in Europe (e.g., BRU, AMS, or FRA/MUC/DUS) from a variety of east coast airports served to those places (use the LH and AC route maps). Get the TATL set up, searching just for the TATL segment. Flights within Europe are easy (and there's so little difference between biz and economy that you can book economy with really no worries), and flights to one of your origin airports to the TATL departure will open up at some point in the next 9 months.
Get something acceptable. You're 1K, so you can change/improve it as many times as you want for free.