Cinque Terre

Hi, I'm going backpacking in a few days and in early-mid August I'll be in Italy. I've heard about the Cinque Terre a little and read the wiki on it but still have a few questions.
1. Is it worth going to if you like hiking(which I do)
2. Is it cheap? Ill have my tent so hoping I can just plop it up for free.
3. Is it easily accessible to get in and out by train. Say if I wanted to go there from Rome and go back to Rome.
4. Are there any other cheap cities that you reccomend over another. Like Venice over Florence or Bologna(other than rome) My budget by the way is about 24 Euro a day, I know its difficult to work with but its what I got. I have Eurail pass.

I really like the history of Rome and the ancient world. Would like to see monuments, crypts, museums, anything left from the Egyptians, beaches...

Any other suggestions for Italy would be appreciated as well!

2. Is it cheap? Ill have my tent so hoping I can just plop it up for free.

Unfortunately that is illegal in Italy. You'llhave to look for a camping site. A quick look on google gave me this site, but I am sure there are others.

Cheapest place I stayed at with the tent in Italy was Camping Spartacus in Pompeii near Naples, only 5 EUR per night.

Yes it is easy to get to by train. As far as accomadations, if you speak italian you may be able to make a deal with one of the locals..

I don't know about hiking to or from the area, but the hike along the coast between the 5 towns is absolutely breathtaking. Definitely something you don't want to miss if you have the chance, however you may want to pass it up if you only plan to be in the south. To go there all the way from Rome and then go right back would waste a lot of time, and you could just go to the Almafi coast instead (though I can't speak specifically for the hiking around there.)