In anyone's experience which bank

Not aware of any Poste a/c these days that is available to none residents. From what I've read on-line a/c are available and likely to cost little if anything. Try a web search for "conto estero non residenti" and I'm sure there will be lots of bank results. Ing Direct was mentioned by a few people a while back as being good, but not used them ourselves. This site has general information and seems to confirm what I said about the Poste. If allowed here this other site might be of interest.

You will pay the quartely tax no matter which account you have.  It dependson you - if you will use internet banking than alot of accounts are cheaper.  Nearly all banks now discurage using tellers - the more automated is your account the cheaper it will be.   

Banca Popolare di Bari 

Ugo, live in italy :)