Somewhere I read that the banks in Europe do not charge a conversion rate for English dollars to Euros? But I don't find that mentioned on any of the message boards. Will someone who has been to Italy recently comment on this?

I was charged originating bank fees while in Italy. Also, I could only use my ATM card at ATMs located at European banks. The card would not work in airport ATMs or other locations that were not physically attached to banks.

I was given the "bank rate" when withdrawing Euros and was charged a fee from my home bank. But I had no trouble using any of the Bancomats in Italy, even those at the airport and train station. Different machines allowed different amounts of withdrawal.
You can get a conversion "cheat sheet" from http://www.oanda.com (take out the extra dots )that I found to be very helpful.
Ciao
Sue

Just returned from our Italian Mosaics trip. And will answer my own question. Our local bank does not charge for the use of the ATM machines and the bancomats in Italy did not either. We made sure we always used one owned by a bank or credit union.
Rates were at the all time low then. Trip was fabulous--great group, wonderful weather, scenes unbelieveable. Tour director Gianni was the best as was the driver--Guiseppe (sp ?). .