A week at a villa in Tuscany. Great wines and olive oil, fresh pasta, museums, the Italian Riviera. . . .

And not just for my husband and me.

We wanted to share this vision of a vacation with our whole family: three grown daughters, a charming son-in-law, and two little grandchildren.

My late mother's words echoed in my head: "You only live once!"

Our friends jealously nodded, "What a great idea!"

Not one of them said, "What, are you crazy?"

Some call it "multigenerational travel." Others call it "grand tripping." But the idea of grandparents swooping up children and grandchildren is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry, according to the Travel Industry Association.

While the Web and guidebooks are full of tips on what makes for a successful three-generation trip, my husband, Larry, and I didn't read any of that before going.

We didn't even give a moment's thought to rerouting to a kid-friendly spot such as Disney World. We were in love with the villa-in-Tuscany idea, no matter how arduous the logistics. And the Bryn Mawr agency that helped us book our villa, Doorways Ltd., assured us we were not pioneers.

About half of its bookings (about 3,100 people last year) are for grandparents taking their entire families, a share that's been growing since 1994 when Kit Burns launched her villa rental business.

"When we first started, the renters were mostly couples and some families. Now it's caught on with three-generation families," she says.

The grandparents "can stay home one day or baby-sit while others go out. Also, it's a different way for teenagers to experience their grandparents."

We converged on the Villa del Barbaro a few miles outside the ancient walled city of Lucca, in northwestern Tuscany - just over the mountain from Pisa.

Larry and I had left Philadelphia five days earlier for a little vacation in Provence, France - just the two of us. We were rested and excited.

But our adult children and grandkids, ages 4 and 1, were wrecked after flying through the night from New Haven, Conn., Washington and Philadelphia to Milan, then driving four hours to Lucca in two rental cars.

We all walked around the villa, starry-eyed and bleary-eyed, as we picked out bedrooms, each more spectacular than the next. High ceilings, brocade draperies, antique tables and desks, and large spaces for dining - in the sun room, poolside on the terrace, or in the rich, wooden dining room.

And there were two kitchens. As promised, they were stocked with olive oil and red wine - as much as we could consume.