My husband

Don't know if they have them in the USA, but in the UK they are pre-paid credit cards which you can get in Euro. The UK cards are simple to load, good rate and easy to get hold of... Take a look at this LINK for more information on them. Be careful which bank you get an account with here in Italy as many have really high charges. They do seem to have improved with the advent of on-line banking which is relatively new here.

Once you open a bank account, you can transfer money direct from teh States - until then there are problems with the IRS letting you export money.   You can bring up to 10000 euros each in cash when you come into ITaly.  

if you can do without  the checks, in Italy, and only use the debit or credit card Italian, for your payments, you can open an account with Fineko bank. The cards are free and do not have fixed costs for the current account - this bank acconts do not work as foreignes bank account ! , no transfer fees !  - to open the account you need only the tax code - you can not open the account online, because you're not Italian - but if you go on the FINEKO web-site , you will easily find the agent near you .Ugo , by www.lifeinitaly.it  

I transfer money from UK to my Italian account using 'CurrencyFair' same day transfer and great rates.