My Wife and I have a glutten of FF miles with Delta and an itch for Italia. We are travel junkies who have a now 10 month old(Real cute if anyone is wondering) and have Italy in our sights for 10-14 day break in September/October. I have only posted once before on this board about a great surprise trip for said wife for 30th and all I could deliver was an Apple Ipod(Jammin to a little Dave Matthews Band right now). Looking for lots of reasurrance taking our will be 17 month old to Italy in October. Please post your took your baby to Italy and never had such a good time stories here.

5pairs,

Here's a link that may help - I did a search on "travel and baby" and ta da many posts appeared. This link is only one of them. Congrats on your cute one too!

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34391366

well duh that link is more about pharmaceuticals for infants - sorry about that but I did see many others posts on the search I did.

Hello 5pairs-
I have a wonderful adorable 18 month old son who is the delight of my life. But I won't take him out to eat much less on a plane. Please keep in mind that toddlers are much more mobile and opinioned than infants. Also- the terrible twos actually start around 15 months.

Why not try out a short trip with the little one before taking the plunge?

Best of luck

I would rent an apartment or house in Tuscany or another countryside area and stay put for the whole time, with possible day trips by car. Trying to do the tourist route of Rome, Venice, Florence, etc would not be much fun with a toddler, IMO. (Would you take your 17 month old to say New York, Washington DC and San Fran? Probably not, but you would take him to Cape Cod or Florida or Vermont.) September and October are great weather-wise and less crowded. Run a search here and look at slowtravel.com for ideas on apartments and houses in Italy.

I question how much of a "vacation" renting a house is in any event with very small children as you still have to go to the grocery store and do laundry, etc. My mother always said this was no vacation for her. . . .

With the dollar being so down, Europe is not the bargain it was, so your free miles may be better spent in the US (e.g. Hawaii?)

All depends on your child; at 17 months he/she will be crawling or walking, and that makes it more difficult, but I have traveled transatlantic with children of that age, and it was fine. Night flights are better, since they sleep most of the time. You shouldn't have a problem in Italy; they love children there. Just adjust your day to the baby's sleep/eat pattern.

5pairs-We traveled to Italy 3yrs ago total 27 people. We rented a great villa in Florence. That was our home base-we then made side trips to Venice ect. The main thing is to bring the right essentials-a great stroller:a european umbrella stroller that is lightweight, folds back so your boy/girl can nap (I like Mcclaren) find a tray that attaches to the front of stroller for lunches on the go. We also brought a lightweight highchair for the restaraunts(most places don't have high chairs). Great backpack to carry the kid essentials and you'll be all set. Have fun! My trip this year-France no kids!!!!! Can't wait.

I would go for it! Last summer we took our 15 month old and our friends took their two year old for two weeks to Italy. We had a super time. My 15 month old learned to walk there so he was mostly content in his stroller (and we made due with cheap umbrella strollers that don't adjust for sleeping but I would agree with the previous poster that a reclinable one would be better). We also took a very compact booster seat (often the restuarants had just one highchair so its best to be prepared plus you can use it in your hotel/apartment too). The two year old sometimes refused to sit in his stroller so on those occasions we took longer than planned to get to our destinations. We're all fairly laid back and it didn't really bother us too much. There were occasional places where the strollers were hard to manouver (Ostia Antica comes to mind and I think much of Venice might fit in that category but we didn't feel we had time to fit Venice in in any event) but for the most part it was a breeze.

I would suggest two weeks so that you have enough time to get used to the time change and to have some down time while there.

We rented a villa in Tuscany (near San Gimignano) for one week and an apartment in Rome for the second week. Having kitchen facilities and extra space at "home" was realy nice for us. Moving only once was also key. We only did laundry once, halfway through. We flew into and out of Rome and rented a van for the week we were in Tuscany. The van came with car seats but some people might prefer to bring their own (we were happy with the ones we got and didn't want to lug the car seat on the plane or through Rome).

The boys were very interested in what they were seeing and loved the food. The Italians were welcoming and loving towards the kids. We were generally earlier than others to restuarants which worked out perfectly. We ate breakfasts in but most lunches and dinners out. The kids slept in their strollers or in the van. My guy never napped at the villa/apartment because we were generally on the go around nap time. There were occasional loud moments in churches or museums but we never had an issue ... we just separated the boys and they quieted down. Gelato breaks were frequent and many of the hill towns in Tuscany had playgrouds so we'd stop for a slide or a swing from time to time. In Rome the boys were fascinated by the echos in the churches and by the fountains. They dutifully slept through the Uffizi and the Vatican museums. We did a daytrip to Florence by train and that was likely our hardest day because it was very long and hot.

We definitely did less in a day than we would have had we been there without the kids but the trip was magical with them.

Good luck and have fun!

Tory

I only want to say this...on a flight from DFW to London I sat next to a lovely couple and their small child, probably around a year old. The child was adorable and happy. Later, when the child began to tire and cry I noticed that the parents had NOTHING to feed or amuse the child. No books, toys, cereal, pacifier etc. I could not believe it. They were not able to get the child to sleep so he cried uncontrollable for hours. As a Mom, I wouldn't even go to the grocer without a bag of books and toys. Just remember that as you make your decision. Once you get their I'm sure you'll have a great time. Just be sure you're prepared for the flight over and back.

Take a Nanny with you.

Can only suggest that you look at apt./house as opposed to a hotel. Look for places close to a city park. Have fun!

Anyone who is groovin' on Dave Matthews is OK by me so I will try to help. Though it is many years since our daughter was 18 months old, we did a lot of travelling with her then. I totally agree with the suggestion to rent an apartment.Its the sane way to keep little ones on schedule and therefore happy.

We did so for a memorable week in London and again in the north of Scotland when she was 18 months and 2 1/2 respectively and it worked really well except for one little thing-no laundry facilities (and, boy do you need them!)

In an odd twist, last year we stayed in Umbria, here in Italy, in a villa near Assisi called Casa Farneto (the Dua de Spada unit). The "baby" is now 21 and made us gourmet meals with the local ingredients, but we all loved the fact that in addition to great views,good central locale, a TV, and charming ambiance, the place had a washing machine!

You would, of course, need a car but I am assuming you are OK with that. We rented through Parker Company but the property is available through other means as well. And there are many others like that...just watch for those laundry facilities!

Have a ball and enjoy travelling time with the cutie; just don't be surprised when he grows up to speak 4 languages, cooks polenta from scratch and admires Tiziano Ferro more than Dave Matthews.

My husband and I were planning a trip to Italy this year with our 3 year old and our 1 year old, but now they will stay with their grandparents (yea!) while we travel alone. However, I found many hotels offered babysitting services, or could recommend babysitting services (if this is a possibility for you.) And many hotels that I researched had either family rooms, junior suites or apartments associated with the hotel.

Also, pick up a copy of Italy with Kids at the bookstore.

Other advice -- we find that our kids love big cities. We live outside NYC, and they love trips into the city. There is so much for them to look at. We took our older son to London when he was one, and it was wonderful. Just as Tory said, you can't move as quickly as you would alone, but it is still fun. I also would recommend the Maclaren stroller (techno for bigger wheels.)

My sister-in-law lived in Venice when her son was 2 and loved it. She didn't have to worry about cars in the streets, and the Italians were wonderful with her son.

Still... if you can convince the grandparents to babysit, then you could really relax and enjoy Italy!

A little encouragement: Day before yesterday we flew home from Rome on a plane with a young couple and their 15-month-old son and about 3-year-old daughter.

We were more than three hours late leaving FCO, and we all wondered how the little boy would handle the long day ahead.

Believe me, there were many apprehensive looks and rolled eyes among the other waiting passengers, who were already irritated by the delay.

To make a very long story short, there was no problem. At one point my husband walked by and they had a laptop set up and both children were watching something or playing a game. Whatever they did to amuse those children certainly worked!

As we were finally getting off the plane, nearly everyone stopped to tell the parents how well they managed, and how precious the children were.

So take heart!

Byrd