Italy = Anti-children???

Are you clear with rental agencies that you are trying to reserve for at least 6 people? It could be a matter of room size. 18 year olds aren't considered "children".

Because I am looking at apts, I have been dealing with the owners on sites such as VRBO. Fully prepared to pay adult prices for th 16 & 18 year old, but also have 8 & 12 year olds.

Italy is very child friendly. It may be that you aren't specifying that some of your children are actually adults. Make sure you find apartments that sleep at least 4-5 adults and then worry about the 8 year old. This is probably where you are having the problems. Donna

Our kids were 10 and 12 when we went to Italy. They always counted as adults when renting appartments - but we didn't encounter any anti-children feelings at all.

Good to know! As far as pricing goes, I expected that everyone would be counted the same... I was just getting the feeling that maybe folks didn't want to rent to a family with 4 kids thinking their property might be abused by unruly kids or something. Donna - great idea to look at accomodations for 5... our youngest can crash on a sofa or something.

Oh no - sneaking someone in, even if she's 8, IS a no-no! Look for accommodations for 4/5 adults and 2/1 children. Don't assume that sofa you see in the photo will be there...you may end up with arm chairs in the living room :-(

Yikes! I think I may have been misunderstood. We are looking at apartments that sleep 6+, paying for 6 people. However, a couple of reservations I made were confirmed, then I got a response (even after credit card info was given) that the reservation couldn't be honored. It happened twice after I gave the ages of the children.... which was seemingly suspicious to me. I just wondered if others had experienced unfavorable attitudes when renting in Italy with children. Perhaps it was just a coincidence... Accomodations that sleep 6-8 are certainly more limited than rooms for 2, and so by considering options that sleep 5 and worry later about where the 8 yr old would sleep seems reasonable... not "sneaking" anyone in, just looking at those accomodations and finding out if the owners would be agreeable to letting us do that...would increase our options. Although, you're right... the picture is not always accurate, and it would be bad to count on a sofa and arrive to find it was not there.

I have no experiences with needing to give the ages of everybody; perhaps just keep searching for an apt. that doesn't ask... Good luck!

That's not what I meant. I meant that you should look for an apartment for 5 adults and one child. I don't know how old 2 or your children are but the 8 year old will be considered a child and the 18 year old an adult. If you look for places listing more adults you'll probably find more options. Please, don't try to sneak someone in. It's not fair to the rental agency. Donna

@ Donna - I understood exactly what you meant...all accomodations we are looking at are based on the number of PEOPLE (regardless of the ages). We would never "sneak" anyone is, as we own a B& B ourselves.

Just making sure. I thought when you said the youngest would sleep on the sofa that that's what you meant. Glad to see I was mistaken. Let us know how the apartment hunting goes and which company you finally end up with. Donna