Originally Posted by travelnutz
You can book hotels thru
Venere.com It lists hotels and reviews by those who stayed at the hotels. Travel by train is the best option even with a family of four. You don't have the stress of a car rental and the associated headaches (directions, parking, and etc) It's convenient to get around Italy by train and fast too if you get Eurostar trains.
I go to Italy twice a year and have found venere to be expensive. I use fodors and book directly with the hotel. Fodors choices are pretty reliable. I would use venere to source hotels possibly but not book theough them.
Driving is not the hassle some people think; highways are good and city streets are reasonably well marked. Parking can be problematic but Italians alays mange so you shoud also plus hotels will help with cheap parking options in most cases.
Trains are great depending on how much luggage you have and where you want to get off and on....some areas are not served by Trenitalia.