I'd like to add my two cents on the issue, as an Italian expat with an Autistic child (8 y.o.) born in the US and raised part in Japan and part in the US, I did some research when my posting was over and I had to go back in Italy for at least 18 months before I could apply for my next posting abroad.
Awareness about autism is still low in Italy, and since the level of school and social services varies greatly with location and is exclusively available in Italian, I decided to split temporarily from my family and leave my American wife and my kids in California (where she has a home) and stay in Italy by myself until my next posting came.
Before I was due to go back to Italy we compiled a list of "International" schools in Rome (where my office HQ is located, and the majority of the local expat community as well), and we sent to the ones who looked best on paper a lengthy e-mail detailing our kids' educational needs and their school level, putting emphasis on our son's disability. We got eight replies, two of them negative (of the kind "We're sorry, but our school is not equipped to care for special needs kids.." etc.).
We planned a visit several months ahead of my return date and made appointments with the remaining school. we prepared a "file" for each one of them with copies of previous evaluations of my son made by specialists in the US and a CD with videos of him in class and undergoing occupational therapy and ABA sessions, just to make them understand his attitude and dispel eventual fears about his behavioral issues.
Almost all the visits were disappointing. We could tell from the start that they were just doing a favour to us by giving a tour of their facilities, but had no intention whatsoever to take our kids in (with comments like: "You know, the waiting list for next school year is already very long..." or "Usually expatriate parents with special needs kids put them in special boarding schools"). One headmaster even had the nerve of telling us that they would have had no problem in accepting our application for enrollment, only to e-mail us the following day to deny everything she said to us the day before.
Only two international schools in Rome were willing to take our children in and accommodate an "aide" for our autistic son (to be paid separately by us), but one was extremely expensive, and the other one didn't have availability in their classes for my son's school year.
Therefore my only choice was to split the family for as long as I had to be in Italy...