Did you know that there are convents that you can stay at in Italy that are very reasonable? I think I've seen information on it from Rick Steves:

<a href="http://www.ricksteves.com/" target="_blank">http://www.ricksteves.com/</A>

You might also check out <a href="http://www.frommers.com/" target="_blank">http://www.frommers.com/</A> and <a href="http://www.lonelyplanet.com/" target="_blank">http://www.lonelyplanet.com/</A> .