Does an anyone know what the current child car seat rules are in Italy? I've tried to look this up but the results are quite dated. I was hoping to catch someone who recently took their children to Italy and is up on the current rules.
Posted by
OP
Pleasanton, California, USA
19 posts
Thanks, Darren. My kids are a bit older, 3, 5 and 7 and the car rental companies would not guarantee that we could seats. The youngest definitely needs a car seat. We will bring one and we are planning on bringing boosters for the other two. I guess I'm primarily trying to make sure that the boosters are sufficient to comply with the law as they are obviously much easier to transport.
Posted by
Boulder, CO, USA
719 posts
John,
I just returned saturday after 3 weeks with my 11 month old daughter. We rented a car and seat during our Tuscan leg of the trip, for about a week. Before leaving, I consulted with Colorado Children's Automobile Association-Foundation and found that Europe's requirements are very similar to ours. The one exception being that EU vehicles are not required to have a locking safety belt attached to the seat, so if it's an infant seat, the belt gets wrapped around the back of the seat before returning. Feel free to respond for more info as it applies to your child. If we were to have the car the whole time, I would probably have taken my own seat, for 1 week with a car and 2 weeks without, we just rented one.
Posted by
Hartford, CT, United States
92 posts
There might be car seat rules in Italy, but they're not enforced. In 3 years of living in Naples, I almost never saw a child in a car seat. I've seen lots of babies on drivers' and front passengers' laps, and kids standing on the backseat. Pretty much anything goes. I'm not saying this is a good ideaI had my kids cinched into the safest seats I could find. All I'm saying is that it's extremely unlikely anyone will pull you over for not having your children properly strapped in. Also, the car seats you can get from car rental companies aren't always in the best condition, and you'll probably get a full body workout just trying to strap them in the car. My kids might have learned some new words while watching my husband trying to strap the rental seats in. If you can travel with your own seats, or at least boosters, you'll be much happier.
Posted by
OP
Pleasanton, California, USA
19 posts
Meredith, Thanks. That is helpful to know.
Posted by
Huntington, NY, USA
3 posts
We went to Italy this past Sept. with our 2 daughters, ages 7 and 3. I am not sure what the current law is but we rented car seats through our car rental agency. A full seat for my little one and a booster for my older daughter. We were only traveling by car for 1 week of our trip so bringing our own seats didn't make sense for us. They buckled a little differently from our seats here, but were pretty much the same.
Have a great trip!