Bedbugs in Milan, Padua, or Venice!!!!!

Even if ----- and ------ were previously not infected - you may well have carried them from your Milano hotel along with you.

How do you they are bedbug s and not mosquito bites? Do they have the characteristic three bites in a row or cluster?

If you are pretty darn sure they are bedbugs, you should contact the three hotels and ask them to check the rooms. They will want to know and clean the rooms before they get more complaints. Do not be confrontational and threaten a bad review or ask for compensation. Just say you thought they would want to check. No hotel wants bedbugs!

I was going to answer the same as Sasha. Are you absolutely sure they are bed bug bites. Are you familiar with bed bug bites? From my experience they don't affect large expanses of skin, usually localized. Maybe you had an allergic reaction to something. Be sure it is bedbugs before contacting the hotels in question.

All hotel names have been removed from this thread. As I have personal experience leading groups of people through Venice, there is another type of bug in Venice that can lead to the experience detailed here. One of my fellow travelers absolutely swore that they had been bitten by bed bugs... and it wasn't bed bugs. It is not my place to say that it isn't bed bugs this time as I clearly was not with marcopolo1323, but without more certainty, it isn't OK to effectively publicly blacklist hotels by citing them in an online forum where posts endure for years . If there is certainty, the hotels should be contacted privately so that they can address the issue. Finally, my apologies to marcopolo1323 for having this happen to him/her... most of us here have been bitten by the travel bug, but this isn't the right sort. :/

Check your clothes and bag they tend to hitchhike

Thank you all for your comments! First of all, I have never had a mosquito bite in my life (nor did my father), although my mother and siblings qualified as Thanksgiving buffets for them. Second, the bites are very much in threes.

Third, Webmaster, I would be very interested in knowing what other kind of bugs to be on the look out for in Venice! I've been here 4 times before, always in October...never stayed in Milan or Padua before.

My hotel here kindly put me in a different room; I took my pajamas and what I'd worn during the day to the Lavanderia Gabriella; I bought hydrocortisone cream at the Farmacia; and I asked l the hotel staff if I should by a disinfectant spray (they said no). I have an anti-bedbug liner in my suitcase, although I realize I have not been very careful about not folding things on the bed in the other two hotels. I will be continuing on to Croatia to visit friends, so I might buy one of the sprays to disinfect my suitcase, backpack, and purse. I am definitely worried about carrying hitchhikers!

Again, thank you all for your comments! May you never have to worry about this problem!

Webmaster, yes please tell us what kind of bug you are referring to.

marcopolo 1323, disinfectant doesn't kill them; heat and pesticides do. A washing of clothes in hot water is a good idea.

I guess leading tour groups through Venice leads to becoming an entolmologist :-)

I, too, have been to Venice more times than I can count leading 100+ high school students all over the island - I sure would be interested to know what the special "Venice Bug" is. I've never experienced Bed Bug bites in any of my Europe Trips - only St Petersburg Russia.

My years working in hotels have taught me ...
1) you will most likely see/feel bites when you wake up.
2) you will mostly see evidence then if you search - the bugs or their droppings are easily visible.
3) without seeing the offender it can be difficult to pinpoint what you have.

I worked in a hotel with dark brown woollen blankets, and a guest swore black and blue that fluff from the blanket was bed bugs.

And yes, all this bug talk is making me itchy.

True, and I considered that as well, Tim, although since I was in Milan for 5 nights and then in Padua for 2 before going on to Venice and waking up with the bite reactions on day 9, I think Milan would be a long shot, based on the length of time it apparently takes for the reactions to appear (up to 5 days, I've read).

Thanks for your reply, and I wrote to both hotels about the situation. Of course, I didn't hear back from either of them, but if they took the necessary precautions, that's the most important thing. And considering the horrors some people in the world are suffering, my stupid little bedbug bites were nothing more than a slightly scary annoyance. However, I now carry bedbug spray with me everywhere.

In any case, I hope you never have this experience!

I am traveling to Milan and Venice in August/September. Is there a type of bug I should be on the lookout for? Where does this bug tend to live, what does it look like....? I will be honest until I read this post thinking about bugs was not on my radar at all.

Hi Stephanie, I suggest that you research bedbugs on the internet to see what they look like and where they like to hide. I have lived in Europe 5 years and traveled back as a visitor many times; I also travel widely in the U.S., and I had never encountered bedbugs before this. A pharmacist in Venice confirmed my suspicions and recommended an oral antihistamine (I take Zyrtec daily already, which she said was great), some topical anti-inflammation cream (non-steroidal), and an environmentally safe spray. Whenever I travel now, I pack all of the above, and I strip the beautifully made beds to check for evidence (although newly laundered bedding might not show anything yet, especially in daylight) and spray enthusiastically before even thinking about opening my suitcases or sitting down on anything wooden or upholstered (which I also spray). Metal, bedbugs don't seem to like. I now also pack my things inside a bedbug-proof bag (internet) and bring another bag that is large enough to put the whole suitcase into. Sounds like a lot of effort—for each suitcase, backpack, purse—but while there are many far worse problems in life, this is one experience I do not want to repeat if at all possible. Some people even bring bedbug-proof mattress and pillow covers; I got them for my mattress at home before I unpacked, just in case I'd picked up any hitchhikers, but I just take a pillow cover with me when I travel.
Venice is also (apparently) notorious for its mosquitoes. While I've never had a mosquito bite in my life, I am certainly aware of their unpleasant buzzing and hovering presence. Good luck! I love both Milan and Venice, and I'm sure you will too!

I bought Aller-Ease Bed Bug Proof Luggage Liners and Bed Bug Killer by EcoRaider online. (The pharmacy in Venice had a different brand of bed bug spray, but it was also natural and non-toxic.)