This is what I did.. I emailed the hotels in Rick Steve's Italy 2002 Travel Guide... didn't work... then I went to Venere.it and hotels.com... and I used them to scout the hotels by area and rate, the I looked to see if the hotel had a website (lot's of them do!!) and then sent an email to the hotel directly... some answered the next day... some answered the same day (emailed in the morning!!)... I really dont know about the quality of the hotels and the relation between the response and the quality of the hotel but... they answer very fast... I reserved for Rome, Florence, Milan & Venice...

Fernando