Here’s one tale we’d heard about Italy that proved to be absolutely true: that they would go bonkers over a baby. And they did!

So much so that Michael the Baby had to institute a "Please, no photographs" policy:

No, not really.

But it was true that almost everywhere, the baby got attention. "è bello" is what they said, over and over again.  Walking down the street, on the public transportation…wherever. They’d catch his eye, respond to his smile, play with him, and worry about his condition. In his backpack, his pants had a tendency to hike up above his knees, and at least twice, total strangers reached out and fixed them. Try that in the U.S…..

It was nice to see, but what would be nicer would be if they had more babies themselves…