During a 2 week visit to Venice in October, I will be joined by my daughter and 14 year old granddaughter. One of things I have enjoyed on previous trips and something I would like my daughter to experience is the food offered in the cichetti bars. During the daytime would it be acceptable to take a teen-ager into one and if so, is there an Italian soft drink or soda that she might have? Just as it has been for my last 3 trips, your advise and opinions are greatly appreciated!

Barb57, kids go to bars and similars all the time in Italy. A bar in Italy is not strictly a place where one drinks alchool, it's a place where one gets beverges, cheap food, coffee, breakfast, mid-afternoon snacks (and leaks ).
I actually think I spent more time per year in bars as a child than as an adult! My parents woult take me there for my merenda, or I would just follow one of my grandfathers when they went there to play cards (briscola or scopa).

Your daughter will be more than welcome at any bar in Italy. She can have any drink she wants: cola drinks are popular, so are Sprite and similars and organge based sodas like Fanta, Oransoda, Aranciata SanPellegrino, etc. Traditionally italian drinks are spuma (that fts in very well with chichetti!), that comes in several different colors and flavors, chinotto (slightly bitter), acqua brillante (also slightly bitter and usually served with a slice of lemon) and cedrata (the same color as yellow highlighters, very sweet). Than she can have any fruit juice. She may also like to play the adult drinking an alchool free "aperitivo" like Crodino: ask for an "analcolico". These are small drinks, served in the same glasses used for wine and often orange-flavored (on the bitter and sour side, again). She may have it added with a dash of white wine is she already has some wine with her meals (it's pretty common for Italian kids of that age to drink half a glass or less of wine with the meals, it's a way to teach them the right form of consumming alchool: in moderate amounts, socially and with the food).

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added with a dash of white wine is she already has some wine with her meals (it's pretty common for Italian kids of that age to drink half a glass or less of wine with the meals

I shter an "official" drinking age? And putting aside the official rules, are there any other customs we should be aware of for older teens? We'll be at Lake Como in August with our 17- and 19-year-old daughters.

The official drinking age in Italy and most of the EU is 16.

Peter

Italy does not have any official drinking age. As I hinted before, italian kids are usually trained to proper alchool drinking behavior by the families. often the first taste of wine comes from the finger of a parent barely dipped in wine when the child is 3 or 4, children since that age are customarly allowed to a small sip of spumante on special occasions (Capodanno, Christimas, Easter, family events, etc.) and often a tiny amount of red wine is added (about a teaspoon) to the water of children aged 8 or 9, strictly with meals (lunch and dinner are the two Italian meals, breakfast for us is not).
Also consider that even most adults only drink a glass of wine with meals (aperitivi can be considered as part of the meal).

I remember seeing a group of High School students stopping for beers in Lucca. It seemed strange at first, but they seemed well behaved.
I remember my Sunday glass of wine every Sunday as a child. It was a tradition to have a family meal (pasta+) every Sunday where my nonna made dinner and wine was for everyone (often diluted for the kids). A wonderful memory.

When I was in high school we occasionally, especially in summer, went to Colonne di San Lorenzo where bars sold beer glasses to go. We would have one glass each and stroll amongst bric-a-brac sellers, musicians and so on. Than the locals decided that this was disturbing and asked for the bars to stop selling beer to go. People (students) who could not afford the drink in prices stopped going, than someone noticed that amongst the leftover crowd there were drug dealers (few and usually selling hashish) and had the polie come and check systematically on everyone. Those of us that went there just for a cheap beer under the stars stopped going because if all you are looking for is a beer and a patch of grass to sit on with your friends you are hugely bothered to see police everywhere asking for ID cards and risking to be searched. So all that was left were the drug dealers (that by that point had escalated from pot to heroine and cocaine) and drug addicts. Now the area is fenced, and all around the fences the drug dealing continues. People who live in the area still complain about night noises, with the difference that by now it's not young crowds chatting and makng nusinc in summer, it's police sirens and brawls in all seasons. Besides, now they are also afraid to go out at night. And another piece of Milano is gone to hell.

Some nickel knowledge:

http://tinyurl.com/ogg3t

Peter