Hi Rthomson,

We used the pack-n-play / portable cribs provided by all of our apartments for the 16-month-old. When we traveled with our older son at that age, we brought the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Lite on one trip. It is light, but it is bulky. On another trip, we used the Kidco Peapod Plus and that worked great. It's very light. It fits in most suitcases or you can sling it over your shoulder. He loved having his own little "tent". The only thing is that the padding is a bit thin. We just used extra blankets and towels underneath to provide extra cushion because the floors are often tile/stone in Italy.
For our younger son on the trip I referenced above (the one we took to southern Tuscany this past summer), we considered hauling along the two portable beds mentioned above. Our kiddo is a "sleep anywhere" type of kid though. So in the end, we opted to just use what the apartments provided. It was always completely acceptable.

We did not bring car seats of our own on this trip. Again, we've done it in the past. We have a strap (purchased at Amazon for around $15) that allows you to attach the car seat to your rolling carry-on suitcase to help minimize the inconvenience of hauling it through the airport. Still, it's honestly a huge pain. We used the CARES harness to keep the boys in their seats on the airplane (bought seats for both kids). Then we arranged car seat rental before we left the US (as part of our rental through AutoEurope). We had two strollers with us on this trip, luggage for 4, etc... it was just too much to try to bring our own car seats too.

I will think on your other questions. The length of your trip is great. It takes kids several days to really adjust to the time change and newness of everything. Plus it is nice to be able to just take a day here and there to do nothing but relax and take them to grocery store, gelato stand, and playground. When you've only got a total trip of 2 weeks, it's often hard to slow down to the pace that's sustainable for little ones.

P.S. If you are wanting to bring a portable crib, definitely check out the PeaPod Plus. Our 4 year old son can still sleep in ours, and he's a tall kid. Amazon.com sells them for about as good of a price as you can find anywhere. It can double as a play tent at home so you get more use out of it aside from just the trip

Thanks so much for your info. We were thinking of bringing some sort of travel pod for her so will definitely check out the pea pod plus. our son can sleep in a bed with pillows on the sides. She is going to be on a lap for the flights, eek. Hope she does well. We figured it would be too much to lug around our own car seats and pack play, so glad it sounds like we won't need to. I'm a bit of a control freak with safety in vehicles for my little ones, but will have to trust the ones we rent. We plan on bringing 1 umbrella stroller with a sunshade, and either buy a second one, or see how the kids do. I am bringing our MEC backpack carrier for our little one, even though it's bulky - just plan on sky checking it so I can have free hands walking around the airport. I also have a wrap and a baby born but don't use those at home anymore so not sure how she would do. Also, from Maremma, was it much of a distance to drive to Siena, San Gimignano? Really appreciate your help. We have travelled around Europe a bit in the past, but as 2 active and easy going adults, now with kids I find myself stressing a bit about all the logistics.

The umbrella stroller with sunshade really came in handy for our older son, the one who was 3.5 years old. He would walk as long as he wanted to, then ask to ride. Or we would notice he was getting cranky and offer him a ride ;-). We use a MacLaren and it is lightweight, sturdy enough for cobblestones and uneven dirt paths, and folds easily. It has a shoulder strap for slinging over your shoulder too.

We did the following daytrips from Pitigliano in Maremma:

Tarquinia (about 1.5 hours) - excellent Etruscan museum, necropolis (100% outdoors) with painted tombs. This was a hit with the kids.

Parco Archeologico Citta del Tufo (between Sovana and Sorano) - this was about 15 minutes via car although we got a bit turned around trying to find the entrance so it took us longer. It's all outdoors and the kids had fun seeing the tombs, walking the trails, and getting piggyback rides in the Via Cave.

Villa Lante garden (8:30am - 7:30pm, 5E, closed Mondays) - about 80 minutes from Pitigliano. This is a gigantic garden complex with a ton of water features. The kids absolutely LOVED it. We spent the entire afternoon there. There's a nice playground by the parking lot too, as a head's up.

Roselle (Parco Archeologico di Roselle) - open 9am-7:30pm, 4E. This is a well preserved Roman ruin. The kids loved playing outside and running in the stadium. I don't recall exactly how far away it was, but I am guessing it was 1-1.5 hours. We didn't do any daytrips further away than that.

Other things we considered but didn't do: Saturnia, La Feniglia beach, Grosseto, Civita di Bagnoregio, and the Orsini Fortress of Sorano. We ended up spending a few days in Pitigliano itself (alternating daytrip days with "stay there" days) and we just ran out of time.

Pitigliano ideas: town itself (including ghetto), Alberto Manzi Open-Air Archaeology Museum (closed Monday.  Open 11am - 7pm) 4pm, Museo Civico Archeologico della Civiltà Etrusca, and the many via cave around the town.

As a head's up - while we did see a few fellow tourists at the places I mentioned above, we really seemed to be pretty off the beaten path. I speak a little Italian and am pretty good at reading signs/menus. Some of the folks we encountered spoke some English. But in general, you needed to be pretty comfortable and autonomous as travelers because the ubiquitous English-everywhere infrastructure of other areas of Tuscany (Siena, etc) has not found its way to Maremma yet. Which we absolutely loved .
The people we encountered were among the most welcoming we've met anywhere, ever. They loved on the boys. The coffee bar ladies would make our older son his own "café latte" every morning (steamed milk with a drizzle of chocolate). We were invited to visit an elderly gentleman's wine cellar in an old cistern underneath his house. A waitress had a son who was the same age as our older son and arranged a play date on the piazza where they raced circles around the donkey statue for hours.

Also, I wouldn't try to do a lot of daytripping from Maremma to Siena, San Gim, etc. I'd switch bases to do those things. If you don't want to stay in overrun (because it really, really is) San Gim itself, consider staying in Volterra. It's still touristy, but it's not mobbed.

Montepulciano makes a good base for seeing Pienza, Montalcino, Cortona, etc.

You could easily spend 10 days in Maremma, 10 days in the Val d'Orcia region of southern Tuscany, and another several days in Volterra/San Gim region.

Happy planning!

Depending on whether Spring comes early or late this year (and who knows these days?) April to mid-May could be somewhat early for places like Pitigliano. You may be better finding somewhere with more indoor activity. As TexasAggie has said, Pitigliano is rather isolated in that respect. A day trip to Orvieto in nearby Umbria (60km) would be nice, but larger centres like Siena are too far away. Pitigliano is at the foot of Monte Amiata (1,740 metres - don't ask me to convert that to feet) and I would have suggested a hike to the top (very very easy, you can get to within 300 metres of the summit with a car) but it would need a really fine day. I've been up at the end of April and all the trees were bare and it was quite chilly. People are skiing there right now.

Ok, so we have booked a place in Peccioli for 3 weeks. Just wondering ideas for a good area to stay by Venice? We are most likely going to have a rental car so are thinking of staying outside of Venice and maybe just taking the train for a day trip in to Venice...thoughts? We fly in to Rome on April 30th, then don't plan on being in Tuscany until may 16th. We were maybe thinking of 4-5 nights in an apt. In Rome to give us a bit of time to get over jet lag and then see some sights, parks/playgrounds, etc., then maybe train to Florence for 2-3 nights, pick up a rental car and drive to Lake area (still undecided which one). Then head East...not sure where to visit or stay, but definitely want to see Venice. We thought about staying in Venice, but we aren't sure about extra cost of dropping the rental car and then getting another one to head down to Tuscany. We may shorten our current tuscany booking to 2 weeks and then stay in another Tuscan area for a week before heading back to Rome for a night before flying home on June 11th. Thoughts? We have thought about heading South of Rome, but not sure. Still ironing things out.

Venice was the last leg of our trip last summer (DH and I wanted to return since it was our 10th anniversary and we visited Venice on our honeymoon). We dropped the rental car in Venice (Piazalle Roma) and took a water taxi to our apartment. We rented Apartment Rizz which is owned by Pensione Guerrato. It is not featured on their website for some reason. It has 3 bedrooms, one of which is absolutely huge and is set up like a triple room. One of the other rooms is a nice size as well, and the third room doesn't have much room after the double bed, wardrobe, and night table is in. There's only 1 bathroom and there is a nice and well equipped kitchen. There's also a dining room (not spacious, but adequate for a group of 4 or 5). It's air conditioned and was very quiet. We rented the entire apartment for 230E/night which included breakfast in the hotel breakfast room. It is plain, definitely. The hotel rooms are much prettier. The furniture was mismatched and the chairs were not comfortable. But, it is a large 3 bedroom apartment w/ AC and breakfast steps away from Ponte Rialto for 230E/night!
Just something to consider if you don't wish to stay on the mainland and schlep back and forth daily.

Ok, so we are getting most of our accommodations booked, but would love some more suggestions on a couple of things...we are starting out in Rome for 4 nights, staying near the Piazza Navona, then possibly taking the train to Milan for 1 night and renting a car to drive to Lake Como. We have booked a place in Osseccio. We were originally thinking of 3 nights in Florence and then driving to Lake Como, but trying to decrease travel time as this est. drive time would be over 4 hours, and with my 2 little ones I thought this would be too long. Thoughts? After Lake Como, we have booked a place between Venice and Verona, so we can visit both, but also to decrease a bit of driving time from Lake Como. After this, we plan on heading to Tuscany for the remainder of our time. So, we just would love some ideas for things to do and see during our Northern time...we want to enjoy a boat ride, and some relaxing at Lake Como, but also want to do some touring that won't mean long travel time. Also, is Padua a long day trip to visit, or can a couple hours with a lunch break be enough? Any places/sites/recommendations for places to visit outside of Venice (other than those mentioned)? We had thought of staying 1 night in Bologna after Florence and then get a rental car to drive to Lake Como, but just not sure if this is too much jumping around with the kids. Thoughts? Thanks again.

Hello again, just wondering on your thoughts about travelling from Rome to Lake Como...we are either going to take the train to Milan, spend 1 night in a hotel before picking up a rental car and driving to Ossuccio. Or...we may pick up the rental car in Rome and drive to Lake Como...probably making a stop for an overnight maybe in Bologna to break up the drive for the kids. Any ideas on this? Or another good location to stop?

Quick question...carseat regulations in Italy, we are probably bringing our own car seats, are they acceptable in Italy? We have the Britax Boulevard and Britax Marathon car seats. They are top ones here in N. America so I am assuming they will be fine. Do cars in Italy have the car seat clips or do they just use seat belts to secure car seats?