My daughter and I-both US citizens-are applying for long stay Italian visas allowing us to stay in Italy 8 months.  We also want to travel to southern Spain while there possibly staying as long as three months then return to Italy. What are the requirements/restrictions for that kind of travel around the Schengen area.

I can’t say I know the specifics too well, but my understanding is that once Italy assigns you a long?stay ID card or something to that effect, you can just fly in to Spain from Italy, and if anyone asks anything, you can just show your Italian ID. They won’t actually check your documents if your taking a flight totally within the Schengen area.