I'd love to find a Madrid Man type page of hostels for Italy (where I'm going in a few weeks). If such a thing does not exist, has anyone stayed in a good hostel in Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre, Siena?

Have you checked www.eurotrip.com ? Unfortunately, you will see that Italy is quite a bit more expensive than Spain, it comes already closer to US prices, especially in cities like Rome, Florence and Venice

Thanks, Connie. Eurotrip has a lot of information, but the hostels listed are mostly youth hostel-type places. I'd love to find Hostal Lopez equivalent places in Italy. So I just thought I'd ask here. Maybe someone has traveled one to the next country to the right (on a map)

I have been many times, but unfortunately I think you will have a really hard time in finding something like Hostal Lopez in places like Rome and Florence. Spain is really great in terms of the relationship between price and quality for accomodation and food and Italy is notably more expensive.
You will probably not get away with less than 100 $ or so for a double room if you want a decent place in Rome, Florence or Venice.
There are a few monasteries in Rome that offer cheap accomodation, but they might have rules such as closing hours etc.
Good luck, anyhow, I would be pleased to hear that I was wrong and there still are nice little place that don't charge much My experience is to the contrary.

After staying at absolutely repulsive one-star hotels in Milan and Florence (recommened by Let's Go, even! ) we arrived at our Rome hotel, also found in the Let's Go guide, and were pleasantly surprised. It was pretty close to the train station, all different sorts of rooms. We had an adorable triple with full bath (even upright shower), hair dryer, TV, phone, etc. A/C was extra (I want to say 25.000 lire?) And breakfast was included (rolls, coffee). We remarked that if it weren't for the ugly green walls we would have thought we were in a 4 star hotel. I think it cost about $100 for the 3 of us.

Hotel Des Artistes
Via Villafranca, 20
00185 Roma
Tel 06/4454365
Fax 06/4462368
Email artistes@tin.it

Although they are not hostals and are not nearly as cheap as lodging in Spain, there are many reasonably priced (i.e. good value) bed and breakfast type establishments recommended in Karen Brown's book (Bed and Breakfast--Italy). You can check some of the listings on-line. In many cases, however, a car is practically a necessity although we met two young adult women at the Villa Gnocchi in the hills above Santa Margherita Ligure who were using public transportation. Rick Steves' Italy book has lots of lower-priced accommodations, too, especially for the Cinque Terre.

I went to Rome and Florence last March (2000). We had absolutely NO problem finding hostales ("pensiones" in Italy) for about 100,000 Lire per night. (That's about $50! $25/person) They were as nice as the hostales in Spain - the one in Florence was nicer. I do not have the names of the places we stayed here at work, but if you want them I can get them. In both Rome and Florence, there are people in the train station who will take you to their pensione and you can decide after you see it if you like it. We found 3 great places that way. The one in Rome had 4 beds in it and there were only 2 of us! I think that one was about $40/night. I know it sounds a little shady talking to people in the train station, but I swear it worked out fine! (Just use a little caution if you are a female alone) good luck, Italy is a great place. I wish there was a website like this one about Italy.

Thanks for the responses. Majesty what were the two repulsive places called (so I can avoid them)? Chicagoan, Yes if you can post the places you stayed that would be great.
I'd like to reserve ahead this time, because June is alot closer to high season than March.