A fortnight ago my husband and I were walking in the olive groves above Corniglia and I almost stepped on a small snake. The snake was about 30 cm long, reddish brown with cream stripes running around the body about every 2 centimetres. It wasn't aggressive and we wondered what kind of snake it was.
Posted by
Boston
1816 posts
A local bilingual blogger did a piece on Italian snakes. http://blogs.transparent.com/italian/i-serpenti-italiani/
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
16238 posts
Probably a "cervone" (scientific name: elaphe quatorlineatae). Very common in Italy. Fall is when most snakes reproduce in the Mediterranean therefore it was likely a very young one, being only 30 cm long.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32404 posts
Mary, There appears to be quite a few different types of Snakes in Italy, some of which are venomous. You can see a photo of the Snake that Roberto mentioned on this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reptiles_of_Italy I've hiked the Cinque Terre trails several times, but have never seen any Snakes. However I did see some stray Cats just above Vernazza (I always take extra water and a few treats for them). Cheers!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
I was going to mention the cats. Glad that Ken did. We saw a few as well. There's usually a small place for food and money to help care for them.
Posted by
OP
Brisbane, Australia
2 posts
Thanks guys. I checked the websites you suggested and i think from Mike's bilingual blogger site that the snake we saw was probably either an biacco (coluber viridi flavus) or a cervone.