The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy

In Short

This 1922 juvenile travel narrative follows two American sisters, Molly and May, as they tour Italy with their parents. Journeying from the Bay of Naples up to the northern canals of Venice, the young girls explore ancient ruins, climb volcanic slopes, ride donkeys along island paths, and interact directly with local working-class children. Eulalie Osgood Grover uses gentle, conversational prose to turn historical landmarks and cultural observations into accessible primary-grade geography lessons. The book has endured as a classic period specimen of early American children’s educational fiction, capturing a nostalgic snapshot of Mediterranean travel.

The Story

The narrative opens on the deck of a transatlantic steamship as it glides into the Bay of Naples. Sisters Molly and May—the Sunbonnet Babies—gaze at the plume of smoke rising from Mount Vesuvius while their father explains how volcanoes operate. Upon landing in Naples, the family plunges into the sights of street life: boys eating long strips of macaroni without utensils, women hauling basketed meals up to iron balconies, and vendors hawking roses along the cobblestones.

Guided by local drivers and hosts, the family embarks on excursions across the surrounding region. They visit the steaming, hollow-sounding crater fields of Solfatara and inspect excavated rooms, ancient bakeries, and preserved food jars in Pompeii, where Molly briefly startles a local lizard. Moving down the coast, they travel by carriage along the cliffside road to Sorrento and Amalfi, spending the night in an old monastery perched high above the sea and listening to local accounts of coastal rockslides.

Crossing the water to the island of Capri, the sisters navigate narrow stepped paths on donkeys guided by local children, Giorgio and Luisa. A rowboat trip carries them into the Blue Grotto, where the subterranean water turns everything an ethereal blue.

Continuing north toward Rome, the family visits historical sites, including the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Bridge of the Holy Angels with its stone statues. Along the way, the girls take photographs of local children like Maria on the Spanish Flower Steps, tossing fresh roses toward passing royal carriages in the city parks.

Further northern travels bring them to Pisa, where the sisters climb three hundred steps inside the Leaning Tower, and to rural valleys where they share a chocolate-and-strawberry picnic with local villagers. The journey culminates in Venice. Here, the girls feed the famous pigeons of the Piazza of St. Mark, observe the bronze clock-tower figures striking the hours on a twenty-four-hour cycle, and ride gondolas through the canals. Guided by their gondolier, Antonio, they visit a local home to meet his daughters and newborn son. The story closes with the family reflecting on their travels across a country of sunshine, historic ruins, and warm hospitality.

How It Unfolds

Arrival in the Bay of Naples Molly and May watch Mount Vesuvius smoke from the deck of their ocean liner as their father details the history of volcanic eruptions. Upon stepping ashore, they observe street vendors, public letter writers, and local children dining on the open sidewalks.

Exploring Solfatara and Pompeii Guided through a gate by a man with a burning torch, the girls walk across the hot, hollow ground of a volcanic crater. The following day, they tour the excavated homes, courtyards, and ancient market stalls of Pompeii.

Coastal drives and island caverns A carriage ride along the rocky cliffs brings the family through mountain tunnels to Amalfi and Sorrento. Crossing the bay to Capri, the sisters ride donkeys up the steep stone steps to Anacapri and duck low inside a small rowboat to enter the luminous Blue Grotto.

Historical milestones in Rome In the capital, the family walks among the ruins of the Roman Forum, inspects the massive walls of the Colosseum, and crosses the Tiber River via the Bridge of the Holy Angels.

Venetian canals and farewells Reaching Venice, the girls hand-feed tame pigeons in front of St. Mark’s Cathedral and learn how the tide sweeps the canal streets clean. Antonio the gondolier brings them to his home, where they meet his family before concluding their grand tour.

The People

• Molly is the older, slightly more cautious sister. She approaches new experiences with curiosity, whether watching boys swallow macaroni whole or worrying over a lizard’s dropped tail in Pompeii, ultimately gaining confidence with every leg of the journey.
• May is the younger sister, defined by her spontaneous enthusiasm and energetic outdoorsiness. She eagerly drives goat carts, trades pink hair ribbons for fresh oranges, and dives headfirst into play with local children.
• Father acts as the informed, reassuring guide of the expedition. He provides geographical contexts, explains complex natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions, and arranges safe transport across every city and coast.
• Mother offers quiet care throughout the trip, unpacking lunch boxes during long coastal carriage rides and turning simple chocolate bars into festive roadside picnics.
• Local Guides and Children (Pietro, Maria, Giorgio, Luisa, and Antonio) serve as the sisters' cultural bridges. They navigate donkeys up steep island stairways, share details about daily Italian life, and welcome the American family into their homes.

In Its Own Voice

"It looks like a big football field with a high wall of earth all around it. There isn't even a flower or a bit of green grass anywhere."

Molly offers this frank appraisal upon first stepping into the barren, volcanic crater of Solfatara before realizing the ground beneath her shoes is burning hot.

"He writes letters for people who cannot write for themselves. He is writing a letter now for the woman who stands beside him."

Pietro points out a public letter writer on a Naples street corner, illustrating for the young travelers how daily work and literacy functioned in early twentieth-century Italian neighborhoods.

"First one man raises his hammer and strikes the bell and then the other man strikes it, until the right hour has been struck, from one to twenty-four o'clock, which is midnight."

The narrator describes the movement of the bronze figures atop the Venetian Clock Tower, highlighting how timekeeping and clock faces differed from what the girls knew back home.

What It's Really About

At its core, the book is an exercise in early childhood cross-cultural empathy and geography education. Written during a period when international travel was reserved for a privileged few, it seeks to demystify foreign lands for young readers. The narrative emphasizes that despite differences in language, food, or dress, children share a common language of play and warmth. Beyond the sightseeing, the text quietly contrasts ancient history—ruins, century-old towers, and centuries-old cathedrals—with the lived present of everyday working people, framing travel not just as looking at monuments, but as meeting the people who live alongside them.

Why Read It Today

The Sunbonnet Babies in Italy offers modern readers an illuminating archival look at turn-of-the-century childhood literature and vintage travel writing. Readers interested in historical pedagogy, classic children’s illustration series, or early twentieth-century American views of Europe will appreciate its gentle pacing and observational detail.

The prose is deliberately simple, repetitive, and structured for early readers, which means adult readers should expect a straightforward, instructional tone rather than complex narrative drama. Period perspectives are evident in how the text frames local poverty and daily labor, treating street life and working children with a mix of benign curiosity and idyllic charm. What remains appealing is the book's genuine sense of wonder: the simple joy of feeding pigeons in a sunlit square, looking into glowing blue sea caves, or sharing wild strawberries on a roadside. It stands as a sweet, historic window into how young minds were once introduced to the wider world.