re: Trip to Italy: Budget question

I always try to maximize my costs when going on vacation. I went to Italy for 9 nights last year and visited Rome, Florence and Venice.
Flight: $2400
Rooms for all nine nights: $1,500
Trains: $160

Already over $4,000 at that point
Eating out every meal and spending money to see museums and sights every day: minimum of $150 per day - > ~$1,500
After that you can factor in all the taxis and money you spend buying stuff (bought a new purse for the wife, wine, and clothes for myself)~$1,000

That puts you at $6,500. The exchange rate is not good over there so that bumps up your costs ~20%

In the end it was well worth it. You can always make more money!
(Of course don't put yourself in debt for a trip)