Bad and dangerous time to visit Northern Italy

Sounds to me like maybe your relative is a bit envious of your trip

Kyiv is over 1300 miles from northern Italy
Drought is all over the world
How does a hurricane in Florida affect Italy -other than maybe a delayed flight?

COVID numbers are probably better in Italy than they are in Florida
Make sure you are vaxxed and boosted and GO
on your trip!

We are leaving again in 2 weeks for our second trip to Italy this year
Haven’t given a thought to any of those concerns your relative has voiced. Has this person ever traveled abroad?
It’s actually less stressful now than it was in April/May due to improving COVID numbers and no need for return testing

Has this family member recently been in Northern Italy? Is he or she an expert or at least a seasoned traveler, knowledgeable about Northern Italy? I am guessing the answer is “no.”
Yes, there are problems everywhere in the world. Has Rick Steves canceled his tours? Not to Italy!
Take a deep breath and relax, then go pack and don’t let their comments put on a damper on your long awaited trip!

It's being raining here and there all over Northern Italy for 7 days now. One could assume that in October things will have improved, but in any case why would you worry about the drought? Are you going to make a cruise on the Po river?

He/she is right about Covid, but you can buy a full insurance that in case of emergency would cover all the costs of a quarantine and a prolonged stay. There isn't a better option.

I Don't know much about (neverending?) wild fires and about Putin's mind, but I doubt he's going to slash through 3 Nato countries to reach the Lake Como. It's like saying that we shouldn't visit Canada because of the drug war in Mexico.

Frankly in October I'd be more worried about low temperatures and the government strategies to save energy.

When people propose irrational opinions on subjects that they are ill informed, you have to ignore them. If this was a problem, the New York Times travel section, national news, PBS, everybody would be all over the subject. The only additional concern over the past ten years is the virus. It does throw a little wrinkle into the considerations but no worse than a bad outbreak of the flu. Just be a bit more careful. PS --- You are really listening to the wrong people.

The most I'd be worried about is Covid. Take precautions, bring an N95 mask and go.

From people in Europe, the only thing worrisome about the war in Ukraine, is energy and petrol prices. Since you are just visiting, I doubt you will have to deal with much of this. Given how the war is progressing, I doubt any Nato country has to worry about an invasion. Perhaps your relatives don't know where Ukraine and Italy are in Europe.

Go, have a good time and try to roll with any hiccups on the trip. Enjoy.

Just checked travel.state.gov and there is no mention of any of the reasons you stated that you should not go to IT. I agree with Christine and that is this relative is jealous.

Tell the family member to butt out or at least turn off Fox news.

As already noted if things were so bad every news station would be reporting on it. Remember Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Every been to London and seen his trashy newspapers headlines?

Ignore this family member and enjoy your trip.

Caryn, sending you kind thoughts for your vacation. I agree with the others to take a step back and assess the knowledge base and travel history of those offering “advice”. If they are not international travelers, I’d smile and nod and thank them for their concern, then go home and pack for your vacation.

Having lived in FL I do get why they mentioned not traveling away from your FL home during hurricane season. I’d batten down before you leave and have a good time.

Leaving for Italy in 3 weeks. Going to North andCentral Italy on a Rick Steves tour!

You're in no less danger in Italy now than in the USA (maybe even less danger in Italy). Go have fun and bring your grumpy family member with you lol!! Travel is a gift.

No thoughts on this but it's not unreasonable to think that the rancour will ratchet up against travel and travellers in what many believe is totally unnecessary in a time of measures to combat climate change.

I just wanted to add that we went to Northern Italy in August of 2021. Lots of people thought it was a really bad idea with Covid. We went anyway and had a wonderful time. We were safer than we were in Florida quite frankly.

We too live in Florida and did make arrangement for shutters for us and my in laws before going in August. So I would say be prepared but go and have a great time.

Stuff happens but just keep travelling.
We’re going to Italy in October (Rome, Umbria, Como, Lk Maggiore, Dolomites) and apart from possible rain, missed train connections, and pickpockets, we’re just heading out. Expect nothing extreme, apart from a possible war with China and financial collapse.
We went to Sydney, Australia across New Year 1999 / 2000 when a lot of people were forecasting the collapse of the world’s computer systems. Nothing happened. We took my mother to France in October 2001 after 9/11 when everyone else stopped travelling. Paris seemed quiet. Both without any real problems. After travelling with us for a couple of weeks in France, my mother was going to visit a friend while we flew home. We heard later that she was scammed out of her bank card but after a couple of days with her friend, continued onto London where a new card was waiting. We were in Brazil when they shut shut down their banking system for a few days and you couldn’t get any local cash for my US Dollars but hotels would only take credit cards at the official rate which was half the black market rate you could get on any street corner. We were in Italy when there were rolling train strikes and our connections vanished so we, along with a lot of others, had to find a bus. I had my pocket picked in Mumbai and lost one of my credit cards and a couple of hundred in cash. I had a second credit card in our hotel safe. We were in France 5 years ago when our daughter went into hospital and almost died and I spent about 4 hours on the computer in the morning determining how to get back to Paris and back to Canada next day. You learn to adjust to unforeseen problems and keep going.
Have a contingency plan and some extra money. Enjoy your trip.

I just spent almost a month about 250 miles from the border with Ukraine and heading back in 74 days (but who is counting). That's my risk level.

Lets see:

War in Ukraine from lets say Venice, nearest front line something less than 950 miles. About the distance from Dallas to DisneyWorld. Nearest random missile attack something less than 650 miles. About the distance from Raleigh, NC to DisneyWorld

COVID new cases more or less identical to Florida, maybe a tad higher than Florida. But with all of the inaccuracies in such accounting lets call it a wash.

Global Warming. Your flight will be responsible for about 2.5 tons of carbon (round trip). Or you could fly to the UK and take the train and cut that somewhat.

Energy crisis in Europe: Some chance there will be cutbacks. Good thing its October when neither the heating nor the cooling loads will be at their peak.

Wildfires: A quick google, couldn't find any in Northern Italy. But with the global warming drought, who knows next month?

Crime. Would have to know where you live in Florida and where you are going in Italy to begin to guess the difference. But I randomly picked Milan and Orlando on the Numbeo site and the Milan was a tad safer, but not significantly.

Hurricanes. Well, if they come, maybe best not to be there? But NOAA forecasters have slightly decreased the likelihood of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season to 60% (lowered from the outlook issued in May, which predicted a 65% chance). The likelihood of near-normal activity has risen to 30% and the chances remain at 10% for a below-normal season. They are predicting 6 to 10 hurricanes, where 7 is the historical average. 6 to 10 is a pretty big spread, so I really dont think they have a clue.

Go have fun.

Go. Just go. Do not listen to the naysayers, do not second guess your detractors. Relax, take a deep breath, go, and have a wonderful time. And post here every now and then, to let us know how your trip is going. We’re all rooting for you.

I agree with what others have said. Go and have a great time in beautiful and delicious Italy.

Your family member appears to be the kind of person who likes to ruin things for others in the guise of expressing concern, although calling you stupid sounds just plain mean to me.

You can show them maps. You can cite what others have said here and your own research. But it probably wouldn't make any difference. So ignore them.

Take lots of pictures that show how much you're learning and how much fun you're having. Bring home a few souvenirs and some wonderful memories.

Caryn,

Not go to Northern Italy because of the war in Ukraine, drought, wildfires and Covid..... that's just plain silly (IMHO). You can stop shaking! It sounds like your family member doesn't get out much. Has that person ever been to Italy?

There can be problems anywhere and Italy is much the same as most other countries. Practice the usual precautions to avoid pickpockets and petty crime,etc. The RS Italy guidebook has some good tips. I checked the Canadian government travel website, and it advises "Take normal security precautions" - https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/italy .

My suggestion would be to stop worrying, take the trip and have a great time!

Your family member forgot to mention the earthquakes in California. They say when the big one hits California, the city of Rome will crumble too. And let’s not forget the heat in California. It was 96F in San Francisco today and in the 100s in the rest of the Bay.
Right now the only concerning thing to Italians is the fact that the price of electricity and gas (natural gas used to heat the house, not so much gasoline) has increased more than twofold since last year, that is the only tangible effect of the war in Ukraine. Regarding drought, that was during the summer. Now the concern is the devastating floods following several violent storms a couple of weeks ago.

It sounds like your relatives don’t want to come to your place if it’s hurricane season. Do you have another option for a neighbor to check in on your place? Then your relative’s worries are a moot point.

Unless a bad thing happens, 09/13 we leave for Milano. We will travel from Ravenna to Torino to Firenza. Should be good.

I too have useless annoying relatives. Don't pay attention to them.

We just came from a 9 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania, then on the way home to the USA, we spent a week in Amsterdam.

We hardly saw any COVID masks anywhere, except that our airline (Qatar Airways) required we wear it on the flights and at Doha, Airport.

We had COVID 19 in May two months after our last booster.

Want to travel, just DO IT.

Thanks to all of you who have urged me to relax and just go. The naysayer is my 101 year old father who did travel but not in the last 25 or so years. There will be hiccups but I hope none that will be devastating. My brother is coming to house sit and daddy sit so we are covered if the hatches have to be battened down. I am glad to hear that there has been some rain. We could use some here too as grass is browning. Hoping it will be cooler as we would love a respite from 94* every day or so since June. I will not start packing yet as I don’t know what the weather will be but I have something for all contingencies. Again thanks for all the encouragement.

The naysayer is my 101 year old father who did travel but not in the last 25 or so years.

It sounds like he's spending too much time in front of the wrong channel on his TV. Also, it seems like some older citizens get a little paranoid and negative. My 93 year old mother-in-law is like that. She spends to much time watching TV preachers who say the Rapture is just around the corner. I was tempted to ask her if it did happen if I could have her car.

Go and have a great time. Be sure to take photos of the wonderful things you see and experience to show your dad.

101 year old father--classic. Parental anxiety. Join the club. If they know too long in advance, their anxiety takes over. My mom (95+) used to end up in the ER just before our departures. We'd spend the whole day as she was tested, scanned, poked and prodded. It was usually dehydration. Once we saw the pattern, we understood and would tell her the day before leaving or not at all, hire people to keep her company, and keep my US phone open so she could call. What she didn't know kept her calm.

Just move forward, enjoy the trip knowing he's in good hands. Since he's so anxious, and knows about the trip, some video calls should calm him, especially if you can get some street scenes for him to enjoy. Don't doubt yourself and your choices. He may be your father, but you are the one in charge now. And don't talk about the trip in front of him anymore from now until you get there.
PS My sister in law lives 3 kilomètres on the French side of the border. The only current crisis is that the stores are still out of mustard and some pools can't be filled due to drought

Caryn, so happy to hear your brother is coming to “Dad-sit”. You definitely need to get away!

It sounds like all bases are covered!!

We went to northern Italy in May. It was great. Mask wearing on public transit. Otherwise, everything was perfect. Museums, restaurants, all great.

I'm in Florence now. No problems at all. Was in Venice the other day. Things were normal.

From a 101 year old who has not traveled in 25 years I would hardly take any advice on Italy.
He said you were stupid to go. Is that good terminology. Did he explain himself. Has he looked at a map.
Age does not confer automatic wisdom.
We only hear about the extreme ages when the story presented is positive and up lifting. We never hear about the grouches, the fearful, the unwise.
Go and have fun in Italy. .

This is not about any calculated real risks to you. He just doesn't want you gone for a long time, far away, in case he needs you.

This is a dangerous place to go because of the war in the Ukraine

The US will get hit long before before missiles are launched at the pizzerias in Italy