cockroaches

(Edit: This post is made in jest)

Yes, yes it is.

Abruzzo is utterly famous for a number of roach-related festivities, including the (in)famous "Running of the Roaches", not to mention the brightly-covered roach motels that line the city's piazza. Roaches from around the world travel here to meet distant relatives from "the old country", as well as to terrorize the evolved apes who call this place home. Rick Steves notes in his guidebook that "Quaint Abruzzo is well-known for its fine cathedral, stunning works of art and the trillions of enormous roaches the swarm over every square inch of the town and its terrified citizens. What rats are to Paris and pigeons to London, so are roaches to Abruzzo -- only more so."

I'd steer clear of the place and settle in lovely Delft, where you only need fear walking, man-eating catfish.

You're welcome,

-- Mike Beebe

OMG!! SO glad I asked! That's Abruzzo out of the question then. Thanks for your reply.

Mike, you really are just the dickens.
You forgot the "Feast of San Scarafaggio".

Where is this coming from? Mike's reply is clearly his usual great tongue-in-cheek (as his prior posts here show). Is there a reason why you think that this one area have a roach issue and the rest of the country does not? All I can find on a search is several summers ago there was an issue in the city of Naples.

Thanks a bunch Mike, now I don't know what to believe! 😨 Larry, the reason I asked about Abruzzo in particular was because I know there are certain areas in European countries where they are more prevalent.

The OP says she has a "severe cockroach phobia". Well, shoot, doesn't everybody?

Its only January 6 but I think we've already got the post of the year.

This is a travel forum. People come in and out of a place for a few days only. If you are moving, then ask on an expat forum. They have better longterm experience.

"several countries where they are more prevalent" Whats your reference for that statement? Cockroaches don't follow geographic boundaries, so its pretty hard to condemn a whole country with a generalization like that. Their presence is entirely based on local conditions.

Since Schengen, the cockroaches are free to cross boarders at will.

hey marianne,

You must have been up late at night worrying about this; unless you live in another country with a time difference. At first, I thought it was a joke post.

I'm not familiar with the area of your interest; or in fact the bug situation causing you angst. But, keep this in mind - you can pick up a hitcher anywhere - as awful and scary as that may be.

On a plane (or train), someone could have a bug in their bag, and it could crawl onto other travelers' belongings. So, unknowingly, you could be a carrier. I'm pointing out a scenario. Any traveler - domestic or international - hopes that never happens.

eta: You pinpointed Abruzzo, so obviously there is a great interest or connection for your choosing to live there. Do some research about the area. Or, if you are "free to do so," choose another town or city to live and take day trips to Abruzzo.

The only problem I'm aware of in Abruzzo is wolves
https://video.repubblica.it/natura/parco-nazionale-d-abruzzo-i-lupi-giocano-nella-neve-le-immagini-spettacolari/323814/324432?ref=RHRD-BS-I0-C6-P1-S6.6-T1
I think they eat all the cockroaches before they become too big.

Marianne,

I don't know, maybe start browsing here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?geo=1&searchNearby=&pid=3826&redirect=&startTime=1546789056095&uiOrigin=MASTHEAD&q=Abruzzo%2C+Italy&supportedSearchTypes=find_near_stand_alone_query&enableNearPage=true&returnTo=__2F__&searchSessionId=DD560F8BE2AAB8C1362ABA9A8B4EC68A1546789033094ssid&social_typeahead_2018_feature=true&sid=DD560F8BE2AAB8C1362ABA9A8B4EC68A1546789066872&ssrc=f&rf=2

If you are serious about this move, do some thorough research - find a forum that has people who live in the area - either born and bred or moved there. Some things will be out of your control.

For example, Newbury Street in Boston is lined with brownstones, tons of boutiques and other shops, more restaurants than you can eat at - and alley ways - which can be an attraction to some furry friends. The area is considered upscale, and it is a tourist attraction. But, "it is Boston." It can have its issues - it is a big city. It does not stop people from working there, living there or visiting there. You have to hope for the best, and keep your eyes open.

And...in some countries, roaches are considered a delicacy ;) Just wanted to lighten your angst a bit...

eta: As with the above post, I have not seen any threatening bugs in the areas of Italy I have traveled. And, I have not experienced a scary bug problem of any kind in my home base. Of course, most people will see flies or even a little ant or two

In all seriousness, I have never seen any type of roach in Italy in any of my visits.

I have only spent around 30 - 40 days there total in the various parts. And I wasn't actually looking for insects of any type. Maybe growing up in Houston, TX where the roaches can be big enough to carry a small dog away made me unimpressed by the others. I did see some quite interesting bugs at one agrotourismo in Tuscany, none were roaches and none seemed interested in me.

This is the first and last time I will post on this site. My question was asked in all seriousness, but piss taking and sarcasm seems to be the norm for most replies! Ta ra

Something to be aware: there is also a little bug that is dubbed a "stink bug." To my knowledge, they don't bite. But, when threatened or attacked (swatted), it can give off an awful scent. They seem to be attracted to artificial light.

I was at a friend's home in Italy. A bug flew in the kitchen from the open balcony. (Most Italian homes don't have screens on windows or balcony doors.) It circled around the ceiling light.

My friend tried to swat it with a corn broom. I was laughing so hard, I could barely get up from the chair. My friend fought the battle and "won." I don't know if it was killed or wounded. It was swept onto and swooshed off the balcony into the night. The bug left its scent in the kitchen. We had to close the door and go into another room.

marianne, don't be cross with us. No sarcasm was intended: just a lighthearted stab at some humor to ease your worries. Spend enough time on travel forums and you'll understand why a bit of fun helps the world go 'round. :O)

Oh, and a belated welcome!

Girasoli, we have stink bugs here in Minnesota too!

Marianne,

I wholly apologize. Honestly, I thought you were trolling based on the topic, the question and the time of the posting (we get a lot of spam/trolls here during the wee hours of the weekend).

I hope you have a great time in Abruzzo and that it's completely roach-free.

I'll also spare the forum the most hideous roach experience ever that happened to my wife in New York City.

-- Mike Beebe

Marianne,

I'm sorry you feel your visit here got off to a controversial start.

Sometimes, people write a drive-by, off-the-wall post on the weekend to stir up a little color on the forum. So, at first glance, that may "dictate" the answers you receive.

People's fears can range, and yes, it's not always correct to demean them. I try to write balanced posts, based on what I experience - domestically or internationally. But, this forum is primarily based on "international travel." I used to know a person who was really afraid of spiders - almost to the point of hyperventilating. So, fear of some things in life are real and can be a threat to one's psyche or health (even.)

Whatever you plan or wherever you choose to live, live happy :) Good luck.

Nice move Mike.

Way to ruin a first timers need for insight.

Hey, Marianne. A brief Google search does not turn up much about cockroaches in Italy other than multiple 2012 articles about giant red cockroaches in Naples (articles that Naples officials apparently felt were over-sensationalized). I also looked for a cockroach distribution map for Italy but could not find one. I would expect that if Abruzzo had a disproportionate number of cockroaches, this information would be relatively easy to find.

I will add that the people on this board in general are lovely people who freely give their time to help travelers. I agree with you that sarcasm directed at an individual poster is generally hurtful not helpful, but the forum gets occasional fake posts. I think your post was mistaken for one of those. The people here are great at answering travel questions, but, as others mentioned above, an expat forum would be better able to answer your question.

We have those lovely stink bugs here in Oregon too. But as long as you carefully usher them outside without smooshing them they don't stink. Only place I had to deal with cockroaches was on a visit to Florida. Never encountered them anywhere in Europe. Guess I've been lucky.

Marianne, sorry you took offense so easily at our humor, but if you post on a public forum you should be prepared for any kind of response. This forum is actually one of the best for respectful, non judgmental, responses to questions. I'm sure the humor of some of the members here was not meant to insult.

In Phoenix we have sewer roaches the size of my pinkie. A good insecticide keeps them at bay. Palo verde beetles are much more spectacular. 3 to 4 inches long with huge antenna. A little squirt of bug spray kills them instantly—wiggle, wiggle, legs up dead.

Seriously, while you may have a cockroach phobia, all areas except maybe Antarctica have bugs of some sort. Sorry to be cruel, but you either deal with the little creatures or find an area that has bugs you like better. Personally, I’d be more concerned about bedbugs since they bite you then they like to hitch a ride in your luggage. Fortunately I’ve never ran into them and changed my Venice hotel when a review said it had bedbugs. If you’re worried about cockroaches, check out reviews on Trip Advisor.

I think the city of Pescara was originally called Pescarafaggio.

Roaches in Italy are anywhere, not just Abruzzo, especially in hot weather. However I wouldn’t say there is a region famous for them, and frankly I have seen more roaches in America, especially in the East and in the South, than in Italy.
The Italian name for Roach is Scarafaggio or Blatta
Italian roaches are generally black (see photo below)
https://goo.gl/images/y5mUyj

Don't leave, Marianne!
Mike was only joking, as you will come to understand if you read some of his past posts.
I've been to Italy, many areas; and have never seen any sort of bug in any hotel or apartment or anywhere serving food.
I don't think you need to be in fear of them.
Besides, if you do get to Abruzzo; we need to hear back from you on what is was like on your trip!

The region of Abruzzo is slightly smaller than the US state of Connecticut, yet there is great variety in that small area. Thanks for asking this question because I was totally ignorant about Abruzzo and thought it was a city!

Although the article isn't perfect, this Wikipedia information makes it sound like the region is an attractive place to live. I hope you are able to do that. Unless you have some kind of family connections or a special situation, it may be harder to work it out to live there than to deal with any kind of insects in the region.

Its only January 6 but I think we've already got the post of the year.

I was checking to see if it was April 1st.

On a more serious note, OP should contact the equivalent of the city/county health department ( of Abruzzo) to determine if cockroaches are more of a problem there than elsewhere.

marianne,

You can probably find cockroaches in just about any country, so you could even encounter these in the place you're living now. My suggestion would be to just start living in Abruzzo and deal with the problem if or when it occurs. If you find roaches in your house, call an exterminator or whatever.

In France, the city government has very efficient extermination services, including for roaches. Personal experience. I imagine Italian cities have the same.

I don't know about Abruzzo, but Fayetteville, NC certainly has them, as we found out this weekend.

Had Mike not answered 1st, I suspect most folk would have jumped on the 'how are you getting past the 90 day Schengen rule'?

I travel a lot and not only Europe and I must admit I saw cockroaches in hotel only in Manhattan in NYC. It would be an expensive hotel anywhere else but it was cheap hotel in Manhattan. So as long as you don't go to NYC hotel your chances of seeing cockroaches are fairly low.

I suspect most folk would have jumped on the 'how are you getting past the 90 day Schengen rule'?

I wouldn't worry about it. Her last post had a distinct British sound about it.

As long as she moved before Brexit she may be able to stay permanently. Or as long as she likes.

Girasole - regarding picking up bug hitchhikers - I rem watching a tv show about airlines (maybe it was the one about SouthWest that used to be on) and there was a man who they refused to let his luggage on the plane - they took it out to the roof of maybe the parking garage or to the parking lot - opened it up and maybe 15-20 cockroaches went running out of the bag...this was quite a few yrs since I've seen this, but that always stuck with me.

Also, people on the buses in Halifax were picking up bedbugs that were hiding in the seat cracks...

(Ahhh - found a mention of it - this was from 2008 "I was watching Southwest's Airline last night. Gross! Gross! and Gross!

This man put his carry-on luggage on the belt to go through security. The TSA pulled it because there were roaches crawling in and out of the bag. The man was upset because he didn't see any roaches. Southwest made him leave the building with his luggage. They made him open his luggage and when he did those dang bugs went everywhere! He kept saying I don't see any blank blank roaches. The women said sir, they are crawling up your pants legs. The camera moved down and you could see the bugs crawling up his legs.

He was then asked did he have any more luggage and he said yes, he checked them. The two SW employee's looked at each with that oh crap look on their face. ")

You're welcome, everybody.

The only cockroaches I have ever seen are in the USA.
Once in a rental car in Hawaii; truly disgusting, the trunk was full of them; and once in a hotel in NYC in 2014, also disgusting.
Never in Europe, or here at home.

All this talk about roaches reminds me of an experience I had around 40 years ago. I was living in Florida at the time, and I bought a used car. Maybe 2 years old... it was a private sale, and had been parked in a vacant lot/field next door.

Fast forward to my first day at work with my new car, and I was showing it off to my co-workers. One girl said, oh there's a roach crawling on the floor. Yikes. I am NOT a fan of any bug at all. One of the guys took care of it for me and I drove home.

Sooo... I told my mom about it. She grabbed a can of Raid and sprayed all around in there, figuring that would take care of any remaining roaches or bugs.

The next morning I'm driving in heavy downtown traffic, and there's a roach on my dashboard. I am abnormally freaked out over any bug, spider, or centipede. So I grabbed my flip flop and whacked it good. Then there was another one on my steering wheel. Then another one on the dashboard. By this time, I am hysterics, freaking out, trying not to crash my new car, and whacking roaches everywhere. And these were not the regular sized roaches, they were the big palmetto bugs. Even typing this now is giving me the willies.

Turns out, unbeknownst to anyone, there was a nest of them under the back seat. When my mom sprayed the Raid, it drove them out and they were crawling around everywhere. I made it to my dad's work, and switched cars with him. Lol. We got one of those house bombs that kills any infestation, and bombed my car. (It stunk for a good long time...) I got my boyfriend to pull out the back seats, and clean out anything there was in there.

Almost 40 years later, and I still shudder when I think of it.... 🕷

Never saw a cockroach in almost 5 years living in Rome.

Marianne, I really hope this is not your last stop on the Forum. Sometimes people (and good people at that!) misinterpret posts and it can cause hard feelings. One poster's sense of humor may be completely different from another's, but I do believe that most people on here try their best to contribute their opinions in a respectful manner. That being said, the only cockroach I ever saw in Europe was in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland in 2017 - really? Really. You would think it would be too cold and the snow would kill them. It doesn't. It doesn't here in Minnesota either. Honestly, I'd rather face down a cockroach than a coyote - at least you can step on them. Good luck in planning your stay in Abruzzo!

lizthemadhatter, I'm thinking she's gone.

Posted by Roberto da Firenze
Italian roaches are generally black (see photo below)
https://goo.gl/images/y5mUyj
.
.
.

That is a beetle, not a cockroach.

Here is a cockroach: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/cfd94e1d/dms3rep/multi/desktop/Blatta-Orientale.jpg

OMG Judy - I would have pulled over and set the car on fire ;)

Here is a cockroach: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/cfd94e1d/dms3rep/multi/desktop/Blatta-Orientale.jpg

As the old neapolitan saying goes: "every cockroach is handsome (at least) to its own mother", but this one's mother proves that love is blind!

If I had a car, I'd rather find a pack of Abruzzo wolves in the trunk than a nest of these guys from Florida under the back seat.

@Dario.... that is EXACTLY what I was dealing with!! It really left an impression on me! NOT a fan in the least. These suckers crunch and go splat when you whack them. I was 19 and trapped in a car in heavy traffic..

Ok, here's my take. I was curious when the post was first added and clicked the thread. It looked like Mike and others had the situation in hand and I thought it would disappear. I went back this morning to see there had been more activity.

It's an odd title followed by an equally odd, cryptic post. It's made all the more odd by being a first post. When thinking of not just visiting, but actually living in an area it seemed weird to be the only question posted. Also, why would the OP think that the ubiquitous cockroach would think Abruzzo would be any more prone to infestation than any other place on earth (outside of Antarctica)?

Given that, I found Mike's humorous response to be pitch perfect. Others joined in the lighthearted fun. The OP took offense and left in a huff. In the scheme of things, her cockroach phobia pales in comparison to her lack of humor.

No apologies are needed or should have been offered. The OP had a perfect opportunity to recognize the posts for what they were, lighthearted humor, and interact in the same spirit in which they were intended. She chose not to. I guess she's right, this forum might not be a good fit.

@Doug Mac Your post is very well and politely phrased. People need to have a sense of humor about their own foibles and phobias. @Norma-you can't live in the Southern US if you have cockroach phobia! To those of you who live in Canada, it's the price we pay for mild winters(66 today!) But the presence of cockroaches depends not on how clean your house is, but on how old it is. Of course my newer houses have had a worse arthropod-scorpions! It is not a good thing when your 4 yr old can identify them.