ITALY!!!!! For sure!!! The Italians have such a shortage of children that they love people with kids and will do anything to keep the kids safe and unharmed. We lived only an hours drive from Venice and went there almost monthly (just for the day or sometimes for the afternoon and the evening). We spent 18 months in Italy (due to my husband being active duty military and the war in Jugoslavia) and 9 of those I was pregnant. I had Italians (moms, dads, grandmas grandpas etc.) come up to me and ask if they could touch my belly. This was a little weird and awkward in the beginning but they were so kind and considerate to not offend me, that I soon saw their sincerety and got used to it.
I don't know for sure, but I would not be surprised if they all love children more than the Pope and this country is very Catholic. Besides Italy has a very nice climate even in the winter. They have Saturday markets in most villages and towns. When we were there they truly loved Americans and with just a little Italian in the back pocket and trying to use it, the Italians would do anything to help and assist you. I would use a English /Italian dictionary and try to put sentences together before going out for the day to the store or wherever and sometimes they would in a kind way correct what I said by repeating the sentence to me correctly, at other times they just asked more questions to find out exactly what I needed. A few times they went to find store workers that spoke English just to be able to assist me.
The pizza and pasta in restaurants is to die for, but I don't care for the little "fast food" pizza places. I learned how to make an authentic Spaghetti Carbonara (spaghetti with bacon and a creamy sauce made with eggs, parmesan cheese, black pepper, olive oil and bacon grease(from the fried bacon)) and that is my family's favorite pasta. The Italian ice cream is another thing to die for. My favorite was Noccioli, which is a hazelnut ice cream, but I don't think I tried an ice cream that I didn't like.
Back to Italy....(dreamy eyed)......my husband and I are thinking hard about moving back when the kids are grown and we are retired or when our online business will sustain us so we don't need to work on the Italian economy (we don't speak Italian yet). We would love it!!!! North, South, East or West Italy would make no difference to us, but we will not be in a huge city, but rather a village or town with all the necessities of stores and restaurants that we need and with a bigger town/city within an hours drive. In the villages and towns the people are friendlier and that's were we would like to live.
Sorry for being lengthy, but at least you can tell that we loved it and highly recommend it.