What do I need to know to go backpacking across Europe ?

Prices depend on exactly where you're starting from, when you go, how long you stay, where you go in Italy and other factors you haven't provided. People who backpack generally can get by for $100 per day staying in cheap hostels and carefully watching their budget (not including airfare). However, if you stay in hotels, it will cost you more. I usually spend 100 to 150 euro a night for a hotel just for myself. Here are some resources that can help you plan and check options and current prices for your trip (expect prices in the future to rise): http://www.kayak.com/ - airfares & hotels; the explore function is useful for finding the less expensive places to fly into from your starting point. Tuscany is an entire region, not a town. The most convenient airports to fly into will be Pisa or Florence, but Rome or Bologna are also reasonable options. http://www.skyscanner.it/ - particularly good for budget flights within Europe, but you can also use everywhere as a destination to do something like the explore option on Kayak. You may not need the airfares, but you can compare to the cost of the trains to get around. this one may be more useful for you. http://www.seat61.com/ - a great train site with details about railpasses. It can be cheaper to buy individual tickets than passes. This site will tell you how to determine whether you're better off with a railpass or individual tickets or some combination for your trip. It also details how to use the pass and what to avoid to get the best use out of a pass. Most high speed, international and night trains require reservations and will require you to pay a supplement when you use a railpass. You need to be aware that a railpass is almost always more expensive for trains here in some places like Italy and Spain. http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.htm%E2%80%A6 - You can get discounts on the fast Italian trains for purchasing in advance You could also take the slower regional trains for less, but that adds a lot of travel time and may require multiple train changes. . http://www.venere.com/ - hotels/B&Bs - prices for the same hotel can vary hugely depending on the season and what local events are going on. http://www.hostelbookers.com/ - hostels. http://www.monasterystays.com/ - monasteries & convents that offer accommodations You can also look into camping or couch surfing as cheaper alternatives for accommodations. http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.ht%E2%80%A6 - festivals, exhibitions and events http://www.backpackeurope.com/ - information & advice For sightseeing prices: check the websites for entrance fees for the museums & galleries you're interested in. I spend anywhere between nothing and 40 euro a day depending on exactly what I go to see when out exploring. For food, I spend around 25 to 50 euro for a meal, but you can eat for less. A pizza is 8 to 13 euro and a panino or wrap is around 3 to 6.50 euro in many places. You can often get food at festivals at a relatively low price. You can also shop in the markets and put some meals together for yourselves.When I travel, I like to try the local specialties and the good restaurants.

Everyone's covered this in detail, so i'll just add my two cents. I had a budget of around 13,000 euro which lasted me just over 8 months. I always stayed in hostels and around the middle of my trip i moved over to eastern europe as it is considerably cheaper and personally find it more interesting then western europe. So i could stretch my money very far.. Hostels are the best places for meeting people, there are on occasion some run-down ones but almost all of the high rated ones on hostelbookers or hostelworld are extremely good. I stayed in a couple where they would offer free breakfast, dinner and sometimes alcohol. Most of the popular ones run nightly events or themed parties. Just be aware when your drunk, especially if your alone.. it's easy to get scammed with taxi's or buying drinks.

Hostels range from very nice to ones that could star in a horror movie. Find a guidebook for budget travelers that includes hostels in their lodging listings. I stayed at hostels when I visited Europe back in my college days, and they were a great way to meet other students from around the world.

Take a tent and you can camp out in summer. Some Hostels are amazing with parties and bars in them and with all sorts of things going on, they are not as bad as you may say and good places for meeting others, resting and cooking meals and washing clothing etc. Places to stay would have to be : Copenhagen Malmo Sweden Paris Lille Chamonix Amsterdam Bruges Brussels Edinburgh St Andrews Inverness Glasgow Isle of Skye Orkneys Belfast Galway Dublin Mayo Cork Cardiff Swansea Bristol Newquay London York Durham Norwich Exeter Glastonbury Rome Naples Milan Sicily Berlin Prague Budapest Cologne Warsaw Krakow Bratislava Vienna Vilnius Barcelona Madrid Lugo Seville Lisbon Geneva Basel Zurich Get work in the hostels as you travel, you will be paid in either accommodation for free or cash, its a good way of immersing yourself in a city or country's culture, whilst being able to afford the nightlife and local beers as well as being able to buy new clothing or essentials as you go. Bring a basic unlocked mobile phone with you with adaptor for Europe/UK charging, buy a pay and go sim in whatever country you are in, this is excellent for making contacts, work , or just cheap communication etc etc Use common sense after dark and in big towns etc. Learn basics of languages. Don't be an Imperialistic American it wont go down well. PS. I have absolutely nothing against Americans, and neither do most in Europe, though I was only giving friendly advice for your safety as many areas of Europe are colonised by Islamic migrants that may be hostile to such attitudes. Thanks for the thumbs down.