This two-part episode was filmed in July 2000 in the town of Anguillara Sabazia outside of Rome.
The song played when Ray starts to kick the ball back to the kids, and while hes eating pizza, is "Toto and Alfredo," by Italian composer Ennio Morricone. It was featured in the 1988 Italian film "Cinema Paradiso."
On March 2, 2002, Rosenthal won the "Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy" for writing "Italy."
During the van ride, all the family members together sing "C'è La Luna Mezzo Mare" (Moon amid the sea). This is a comic Neapolitan song with worldwide popularity, traditionally styled as a brisk tarantella (a various folk dance). The song portrays a mother-daughter "coming of age" exchange consisting of various comic, and sometimes sexual, innuendos.
The song that plays as Ray and Debra ride the bike, is "Bicycle," by Luis Bacalov. It was featured in the 1994 Italian film, "il Postino"(The Postman).