eight legged friends

We have been through a dozen or more wineries over the years in Italy and have never seen a spider let along a tarantula. Is Italy normal territory for tarantulas? I always thought of tarantulas being further south.

This may well be the most unusual (funniest) question I've ever seen posted here! No, they will NOT see a tarantula. For God's sake, never take them to Central/South America, even though it's unlikely they will see them there either! You're a Very Good Niece to take these lovely ladies to Italy. Or anywhere. :-) Grins.

Taranto, tarantula. Source of name, but it's really a wolf spider of some kind. There are venomous spiders in Italy. Tarantulas are not venomous.

There are tarantulas in the far south, like sicily and puglia, there are no tarantulas in liguria, just normal small spiders. (i was raised in the ligurian countryside)

Spiders can be anywhere but Italy is not Australia. You won't see those big spiders that are common place in many tropical places and even in the US.
Actually, if that can be any solace, spiders in Italy are not dangerous. The only spider that is dangerous for mankind (but not fatal for healthy adults, only for small babies) is the "malmignatta" (aka the Mediterranean Black Widow). They are so rare that I've never seen one there.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_black_widow
Another one is the ragno Violino (violin spider). Not fatal but causes major cutaneous wounds. Very rare as well.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_recluse_spider

I have to confess that I'm afraid of spiders but in all our regular visits to Italy over the last 30 years or so have only seen one large spider (touchwood for our upcoming trip in two weeks time!) and that was indoors. It was at a hotel on Lake Trasimeno, Umbria and the tiny old lady sent to remove it was impressed by its size so I did not feel quite so foolish. One of the staff told me that it was not surprising because the hotel was an old building, in the countryside and we kept our room windows open.

BTW - The place where I met the most spiders (and other scary looking bugs) was Westport CT when visiting my brother who was living there at the time.

Spiders are not a problem, watch out for the scorpions though. ;)

No concerns about vipers, huh?

@Ed: Thanks a lot :-{

I want to give you an award for unique travel question of the year. You can take my 80 year old mom along with you as a body guard. She has a biology degree and LOVES spiders. (Snakes are another story with her.). She will catch them then give you a brief nature lesson about them. Plus, my mom will probably buy a few bottles of vino to share with the group.

Zoe, vipers are really only a problem if you are looking for wild asparagus in the morning. Just take a stick with you and beat the bushes a bit before you stick your arm in. ;)

Thank you to all for replies.
BTW Fear of spiders ( or mice or snakes etc) to the point of a Phobia, is not based on harm they can do to you. It is a deep seated visceral response that can not be controlled. Yes, I know you can get therapy for it, but if you have an irrational fear it is near impossible to even contemplate the therapy which will include confronting the fear directly.

Isn't the folk dance, Tarantella, derived from the word for tarantula (Italian wolf spider) of southern Italy? Legend has it that it was a fast dance to sweat out the spider's venom.

Scorpions in Italy are not venomous at all.

Sam has probably put his finger on the aunts' problem. Although the Wikipedia article on the dance (Tarantella) is of poor quality, the one on the spider (Tarantula) is of decent quality. The latter makes it clear that the name we use today for the scary tropical spider was originally created for the entirely different Lycosa tarantula, in Apulia, Italy. There is no connection between the two kinds of spider, except that they are both spiders.

Oh man, speaking of vipers...several years ago I was fly fishing the Brenta River a bit north of Bassano del Grappa. I was scouting a trail through some brush wearing shorts and sneakers and almost stepped right on one. I stopped to look ahead and caught some movement on the ground, I looked down and saw that damned thing coiled up and getting ready to strike. If I'd taken one more step, I'd have stepped right on him. I never moved so fast in my life. All I had on was shorts and sneakers with no socks too, he would have gotten me good. Still freaks me out thinking about it.

Rik -- if you had passed out with hysteria when coming upon that snake, you probably wouldn't be with us. I've never understood the kind of fear that makes a person lose their survival instinct, and I hope I never do.

My best spider (and snake) story happened down here in Tucson a few years back. There was some kind of a beauty contest at a fancy resort up north of town. One of the contestants was on her way to the meeting place pretty early in the morning. The route from her room required that she walk outside, not uncommon in fancy places here.

She came to the stairs to the destination building and saw a spider. I don't know if it was a tarantula or not, but she freaked out and jumped to the side, off the sidewalk somehow. When she did that, she surprised a baby rattler that was there. The rattler bit her and she spent the rest of the contest on crutches.

There are lots worse things than spiders...

People! This poor guy is taking his two aunts to Italy who are terrified of Spiders, and now you introduce snakes into the conversation?! I don't think you're doing this poor guy and favors!

Again, this is one of the funniest questions I've ever seen on here.

Again, I've NEVER encountered the following in Italy:

1. Violent Crime
2. Spiders
3. Snakes
4. a PICKPOCKET!

I'm careful, but not neurotic when I travel. I don't stay in 5 star hotels. I've been on buses and trains. I'm 62 years old and sometimes travel without my husband. I've been to vineyards. No, no spiders or snakes there that I saw. Just some really nice wine.

Well Donna, I have encountered all four of those in Italy. Of course, I lived there for 14 years so it's not surprising.