Bring mosquito repellant to Italy!

Thanks Rashmi! In what areas have the mosquitos been a problem?

Just look at that experience as a blood donation.

We left the window open overnight in Florence and they nearly ate me alive but didn't bother my husband. They never do! Grrrrrrrr.

What I found in Italy was that no repellant we could find to buy worked; the little coils don't work; the room plug ins don't work. Deet works and you have to bring that with you. (it may be possible to buy decent repellant but we never figured out how to do so.) We always travel with the little individual towelettes you can tuck in a back pocket if it becomes necessary; if we will be there in spring/summer/fall then we take a bottle of deet based repellant. And in Italy some of the mosquitos are the ones that carry dengue fever and similar awfulness and soon it will be Ziki. Not a time in history to be laughing about 'blood donations.'

I know much of Italy has been bombarded with rain this month, so that'll do it.

I hate mosquitoes, so I always try to stay in an apartment as close to the water as I can since the breeze seems to really help. When I see the beautiful apartments in the hills with lush green vegetation I immediately think of mosquitoes., I still don't understand the no window screen thing, but I'm not going to question it because the Italians are better at life than everyone else. We were a left handed stones throw (I'm right handed) from the water in Manarola last year and didn't see a mosquito even though we left doors and windows open all night. We'll be literally over the water in Vernazza this fall and I'm hoping we can sleep with the door open again.

Does anyone have experience with a European product called Mosi Guard? I'm concerned about mosquitoes for our trip to Italy in August and I already have Lyme disease (which can be transmitted my mosquitos in addition to deer ticks) so I'm looking for a reputable product but do not wish to use DEET. Consumer Reports recently rated a lemon eucalyptus product well but the online reviews weren't all that great.

Mosquitos get me almost every trip to Italy. Before my last trip i read somewhere that aloe vera gel would repel them, so i bought a small travel size bottle and slathered myself religiously every morning. They still managed to get me in the one spot I didn't cover, my feet! Even got the bottoms of my feet. May be a coincidence but I'm planning to try aloe vera again this year and see if it works..

Thanks for the heads up! We are in Italy again 3rd week of August and it never occurred to me to bring bug spray. Mosquitos love me due to my rare blood type I think lol they don't bite my husband at all. But I rather take a day in Italy with Mosquitos then sitting here :)

Every July I bring a bottle of Avon's Skin So Soft. I spray it on me and on the bedding. Not one bite since I started that. Seems to work better than anything else I've tried or heard about.

Eat plenty of garlic to the point it comes out of your pores.

Put a fan next to your bed at full speed during the night. Mosquitoes can't land safely with high cross winds, they are like Cessna planes.

They sell bug repellents in Italy, plenty to choose from, including Off! so no need to burden your luggage with extra weight. The only type I can't seem to find there, are the belt clip on type, like a cell phone, which is also by Off! but haven't been able to find in Italy yet.

garlic also wards off Vampires (which mosquitoes are) and I always sleep with a fan blowing on me, even in Winter! ...white noise

Based on this thread (and the fact that I tend to get eaten alive by mosquitoes) I emailed our apartment landlords in Padova and Florence about the situation. Haven't heard from Padova yet, but here's what Florence said: "The way to deal with zanzare is as follows: Close the windows in the apartment. Every day, from 6 PM onwards when you are in the apartment, use the tablets VAPE in the VAPE zanzara repellent machine which you will find in the bedrooms. It is electric and you plug it in the wall. The tablets give an imperceptible odor and all Italy sleeps with them. They last 8 hours. Use insect repellent. Bring it from the US. It may work or not. If it works, use it when out of doors from about 5-6 PM onwards. In the pharmacy, buy a product called “After Bite” (this is the name in Italian). It works after you have been bitten and is perfect for removing the pain and swelling. It is a stick."

I asked him if their were Italian repellents with DEET (since that's usually my salvation), but he didn't answer that. If I hear anything different or better from Padova I'll post it.

Ok, I'll risk getting lectured.

Why no window screens?

Casement windows are hard to screen -- but it is really disastrous that they haven't figured something out. We spent two months in Florence and in summer you either swelter or get eaten alive. We had a mosquito net on the bed, but one would always get in and awaken us at 2 am with its buzzing and biting.

Those plug in things just don't work -- they may reduce the numbers but as far as I am concerned the right number is 0. We used the plug ins and always had mosquitos. I have tried 'Skin so Soft' and am glad it works for someone but it never worked for my family.

Oh I so sympathize. I can't sleep when I hear mosquitoes buzzing around.
I read in one of Rick Steves' books some time ago that taking vitamin B (forgot exactly which one though)
makes your blood less tasty to these critters. But you have to start it some time before your trip.
I tried it and it seemed to work.
Once in a pinch, I slathered myself with Noxzema and that worked too. Even though it made my skin rather dry,
it beat scratching.
Good luck!

The worst places for mosquitoes were Florence and the entire small town of Tuscany. We were careful to not open our windows in Lucca but those mosquitoes are sneaky and must have ridden in somehow. Both of my daughters and I have been eaten alive at night while sleeping. We counted a total of 68 bites between the 3 of us! Of course, my husband is completely bite-free.

At home in the U.S., I would consider buying the little wrist bracelets - sold online at store like Amazon. I even bought some at Target and thought "nah...I'm packing light".
You can of course also find DEET wipes if you don't want to pack liquids/spray.

We are in Venice now and there are certainly mosquitoes here, but not nearly as aggressive it seems as in Florence.

We bough a product in Italy called "Spirito contro i Mussati" and it is working well. Seems to contain Eucalyptus and Citronella, no DEET, which is fine with me.

Good luck!

Casement windows do not pose a screening difficulty. Europe is window-screenless because it is the culture to not screen windows. Sometimes it means a bird in the room.

Just because someone does not react to mosquito bites does not mean they have been bitten less.

Mosquito screens (zanzariera in Italian) are available for casement windows and doors, and are available in Italy. The photos below are from Italian specialized home improvement websites.
The ones that I have seen actually installed are generally the type with a spring mechanism that allows the screen to roll up. They are usually installed between the window casement and the outside blind. Italian windows have the window sill in the exterior with the window flush with the interior wall and the blind flush with the exterior wall. See the last photo below.

http://www.3elle.it/3elle_stage/file/public_admin/zanzariera.jpg
http://www.infissivaccher.it/img/zanzariere1.jpg
http://www.gliinfissi.com/img/foto/zanzariere_4.jpg
http://www.gtpparati.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Zanz1.jpg

The reason why these are not popular yet, is because many people don't like the look of them in those types of windows. Also they don't come standard with houses, therefore people are not used to them, they haven't grown up with them and don't care to install them later even though they'd be useful to avoid having their body stung.

Therefore it's more or less the same reason why Americans don't have bidets in their home. They don't come standard, people are not used to them, they haven't grown up with them and don't care to install them even though they'd be useful to avoid having their underwear skid marked.

ROF! I do believe that this is the first time I've seen "skid marked" appear on an RS forum.