I’m in the same boat as you, trying to learn Italian without being able to travel to Italy just yet.
Here are some of my personal tools:
1.) For motivation I often read articles from All Japanese Al The Time
Even though the site is obviously geared towards people learning Japanese, the author has some really insightful things to say about learning a language. He’s a Kenyayn who taught himself Japanese at home without ever going to Japan. After he became fluent he moved to Japan and got a job. He also taught himself Mandarin Chinese to fluency (without going to China) and is learning Cantonese. His basic idea is that you have to just become the language. Don’t take all the language class crap that grammar is the most important thing; a baby simply listens to a language for many months before it can mutter a sound.
Good Aall Japanese All The Time Articles for Motivation: this and this
2.) Secondly I actually own Rosetta Stone but I prefer Livemocha, a free online language learning site. Basically, you pick the language you’re trying to learn and select the language you’re native to. Then you make friends who are trying to learn your language that also speak the language you want to learn. There are audio and written submissions that you then ask your language partners to review. The site also has a free built “adaptive recall” thing which is essentially words and phrases with pictures (JUST like Rosetta Stone). It also has a chat feature.
3.) Lastly, if you need to understand something about the grammar aspect of things, About.com is very helpful with this. They have a pretty in depth Italian grammar overview and a friend of mine said she used it to help become fluent in german and it was very useful. Just search for the language you are trying to learn in the toolbar on the main page.
4.) Other random sites: I watch streaming Italian tv a lot just to hear more and more of the language. Search the web for online videos, movies, and tv shows in the language you’re learning. You’ll be surprised at the goldmine of free stuff you’ll find out there.
Sorry this was so long-winded but I’m passionate about language learning and think anyone can do it without having thousands saved up to travel to the country for months or hundreds saved up for expensive classes which essentially mostly teach grammar. (I’ve been in tons of Italian classes and am just now starting to get better because I took the initiative on my own).
GOOD LUCK and hope I helped!