This site is very helpful when you want to learn about car seat safety and the correct way of placing the car seat for the different ages.  The rules are the same here in Italy.  It is a law and children are required to be in a car seat. 

Reduce Their Risk

In 2009, 1,314 children ages 14 years and younger died in motor vehicle crashes, and approximately 179,000 were injured. But parents and caregivers can make a lifesaving difference. Whenever you’re on the road, make sure your child passengers are buckled into appropriate safety seats. The safest place for children of any age to ride is properly restrained in the back seat. Data show that: In 2010, restraint use saved the lives of 303 children ages 4 and younger. Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in car crashes by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers ages one to four. For children ages 4 to 7, booster seats reduce injury risk by 59% compared to safety belts alone.All children younger than 13 years should ride in the back seat. Airbags can kill young children riding in the front seat. Never place a rear-facing car seat in the front seat or in front of an air bag.

via CDC Features – Child Passenger Safety.

Related articles

• Choosing the Right Car Seat (insureyes.com)
• Stay Safe During Child Passenger Safety Week (allstate.com)
• Put That Baby in a Car Seat Now!! (blessedwithtwo.wordpress.com)
• How to properly install a child seat (winkellychevrolet.wordpress.com)

Research articles from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

• Kinematics of child volunteers and child an… [Traffic Inj Prev. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI
• Grandparents and child passenger safety. [Accid Anal Prev. 2012] – PubMed – NCBI
• Promoting correct car seat use in parent… [Health Promot Pract. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI
• Child passenger safety practices in the U.S.: … [Am J Prev Med. 2012] – PubMed – NCBI
• Injuries in restrained motor vehicle accident … [Ann Emerg Med. 1994] – PubMed – NCBI