Il ciuccio è vicino al biberon.

In Italian, nouns often use a definite article where English might also use the.
Here, il means the and agrees with ciuccio, which is a masculine singular noun.

• il ciuccio = the pacifier
• ciuccio by itself = pacifier in a more general or dictionary-like sense

So Il ciuccio è vicino al biberon is the normal way to say it.

Because in Italian, a + il contracts to al.

So:

• a + il = al

That means:

• vicino al biberon = near the bottle

This kind of contraction is very common in Italian:

• a + il = al
• a + lo = allo
• a + la = alla
• a + i = ai
• a + gli = agli
• a + le = alle

Because vicino normally takes the preposition a when it is followed by a noun or pronoun.

So the pattern is:

• vicino a + noun
• vicino a me
• vicino a casa
• vicino al biberon

You generally cannot say vicino il biberon in standard Italian.
The a is required, and here it merges with il to make al.

Here, vicino is part of a location expression meaning near.

In Il ciuccio è vicino al biberon:

• Il ciuccio = subject
• è = is
• vicino al biberon = location/complement

You can think of essere vicino a as a set pattern:

• essere vicino a qualcosa/qualcuno = to be near something/someone

So even though vicino can behave like an adjective in other contexts, here the important thing for a learner is the pattern essere vicino a.

The accent distinguishes è from e.

• è = is
• e = and

So:

• Il ciuccio è vicino al biberon = The pacifier is near the bottle
• Il ciuccio e il biberon = The pacifier and the bottle

The accent is very important in writing.

Both nouns are masculine.

• il ciuccio
• il biberon

That is why you see:

• il before ciuccio
• al before biberon, because al = a + il

A useful note:

• ciuccio ends in -o, which often signals masculine singular
• biberon is a borrowed word, and it is masculine even though its ending is less typical

A simple English-friendly guide:

• ciuccio sounds roughly like CHOO-cho
• biberon sounds roughly like bee-beh-RON

A few details:

• ci before u gives a ch sound: ciu-
• the double cc in ciuccio makes the ch sound stronger/longer
• è is pronounced like eh

So the whole sentence is approximately:

eel CHOO-cho eh vee-CHEE-no al bee-beh-RON

That is only an approximation, but it is a helpful start.

Italian uses articles very regularly, often more regularly than English learners expect.

Here both nouns are specific:

• il ciuccio = the pacifier
• il biberon = the bottle

So the sentence naturally uses articles for both nouns.

Italian often sounds incomplete or unnatural without the article in cases like this.

Yes. Accanto a is another very common way to say next to / beside.

Compare:

• vicino al biberon = near the bottle
• accanto al biberon = next to / beside the bottle

Vicino can be a little broader, while accanto can sound a bit more specifically right next to. In many everyday situations, though, both work.

For this sentence you only need the singular, but learners often ask this next.

• il ciuccio → i ciucci
• il biberon → usually i biberon

Biberon is commonly treated as invariable in the plural, so the article changes but the noun usually stays the same.

Examples:

• I ciucci sono sul tavolo.
• I biberon sono puliti.

This order is the most neutral and natural one:

• Il ciuccio
  • è
    • vicino al biberon

Italian word order is often similar to English in simple statements like this:
subject + verb + location

You can change the order for emphasis in some contexts, but for a learner, this version is the standard one to copy.