For whoever wants to visit Venice on short budget, my suggestion is to stay at Chioggia/Sottomarina at approx. 1/2 hour from Venice. It's a very nice beach-resort, very popular among Italians and the prices are very good. I stayed last year at Pensione Alla Lepre (meaning The Rabbit) paying 30 Euro per night for a nice and clean room. Here is the address: Str. Dona Marina 184, phone 041/493025. The owner, a nice lady have a restaurant too here (that's why is called Pensione) and many local workers are coming here to eat because the food is very cheap and very good. Is a real Italian home-made food! The bus station for Venice is only 5 minutes of walking from the hotel and is very cheap too. I will try to write a log for my last year trip to Italy where I will mention all these. I have also a recommendation, again for short-budget trip, for a place to stay close to Arrezzo, in a small village called Meliciano. Here you can establish your head-quarters and make trips to see Pisa, San Marino, Rimini, Florence and Arezzo.

Yours, Paul in Chatham