Plan Your Trip - Beyond Tuscany

Italian News

Rick Steves' - This popular site has lots of tips for travel etc. (We, understandably, are RS fans!) Try the graffitti section for been-there-loved-it-or-hated-it reviews of all sorts of things.
Trip Advisor - This is a great resource for reviews of hotels. plug in a city or hotel and find out what lots and lots of folks thought of it. Seems quite independent.
Slow Travel - Another independent site based on client reviews. Includes lots of "villas" as well. VERY helpful for people driving through Italy as it has specific parking instructions for different cities.
Fodors - This site is most interesting for its Forums. Become a registered user, (free) and then ask whatever is on your mind and sort through an inundation of sorts of advice.
In Italy -

Island Spirit Adventures - Trips to the beautiful and not-so-known-to-Americans island of Sardegna.

An excellent Umbria site; click on city or area that interests you and follow links for directions, museum listings, etc.
Orvieto information (in Italian only)