Bank account for year abroad

dabbsy100

I am a 2nd year student in the UK and in about a month I will be going to Italy for the year. I shall be working (and receiving income) for the first 4 months and then I'm attending university after Christmas. At the moment I have a UK Natwest current account (into which I assume I will receive my erasmus grant and loan from student finance) and I was wondering what my best options would be whilst I'm abroad - obviously I will be wanting to withdraw money etc but I don't want to be constantly hit with bank charges.
Therefore, is there anyone out there that has done a year abroad and knows the best thing to do? I have a basic level of Italian but I'm not sure I would really feel comfortable trying to open a bank account there (lack of technical vocabulary etc - I don't want to get done over) so are there any UK accounts you can get that do not charge for withdrawals/transfers? Or is my only option to get an account over there?
If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated!

apt

Are you sure you will not need an Italian bank account? Can you pay your rent in cash? Anyway you would save money by getting a current account from Metro Bank, Norwich and Peterborough or Cumberland BS which do not charge for overseas use.