Barb, this question has come up not too long ago, about snakes in Scotland. So, you're not the only one with this fear, and not the only one to have posted this question on Fodor's!

Well I am glad to hear I'm not the only one with such a crippling fear! (Apparently someone also posted a similar question on the Asia site.) I will, of course, post my adventures when we return (end of May); hopefully none of them will involve reptiles.

You make a good point about the beach. I didn't realize Portofino didn't have a beach. It's one of those places I've always dreamed of visiting. Do you think it will disappoint? Or is it as beautiful as the pictures show it to be?

You can add Newfoundland and New Zealand to the list of snake-free zones.

i would use the money you would save to get some counseling.

Go on the beech. Despite my fears I would still go on the beech

I was once in northern Tuscany (near Camaiore) in the summer when it was quite hot, being driven back to my accommodation late at night, and came across a stretch of road which was absolutely covered with snakes. It was explained to me that they like to bask there at night as the tarmac retains the heat of the day.

But in many trips to various parts of Italy, that's the only time I've seen snakes.

Maybe you'd better keep right away from Australia if you're terrified of snakes. My wife stepped out of a car in outback Western Australia and nearly stepped on one. Each time I tell the story that snake gets bigger and bigger. Last time I told the story it could swallow at least a football team - LOL

fyi, not to scare folks, but interesting in context ...

http://survival.webends.com/appendix_e/

We booked it (the beach house with the "sighting"). I was actually feeling very confident about it until I read that last post with the scary link... reminded me why I was scared in the first place... Wish me luck!

Sorry about that ... just remember that the odds of a problem are so small.

And even those numbers are terribly skewed. Did you know that a high percentage of snakebites (at least in the U.S.) are caused by drunken idiots trying to handle this animals? Read somewhere that 40 percent of U.S. victims had BAC of over .10 ....

I get jumpy around snakes too although you're many, many times more likely to be in a car accident that be threatened by one.

Thanks, Repete. And with five kids I certainly won't have time to get drunk (though I may want to)! I remain confident and positive and am repeating my mantra... IF THEY HEAR ME APPROACH THEY WILL FLEE. THEY AVOID PEOPLE... IF THEY HEAR ME APPROACH...

Snakes are horrible, but you might find them in many unexpected places, how about Bal Harbour in Florida just North of Miami Beach.? In front of the beach there iare green areas with plants and palma trees and bushes , and walking by I have seen a couple . I bet there are quite a few more between plants. Do they do anything?
Guess not if left alone. Those two rushed into the plants.
What I mean I do not think is fair to say Italy Sanakes, because there are snakes in many places not to count some humans that might be called also snakes....LOL

There are definitely snakes in Italy. I never happened to see one, even when I was in fields and woods and dry rocky places and near wet places, but maybe I just wasn't being observant enough in the right places at the right times. I don't know whether they're more common in the Italian Riviera, but if the property owner told you there are snakes on that particular property, then I guess there are. That's nice. It may mean that you won't be bothered by rats. :) Maybe you'd feel better staying at a less rural property.

Since this is a rather odd thread topic anyway, I have an excuse to post this interesting little fact that I heard from an MD who has a lively interest in quirky facts about nature--both wild and human. In the US (or maybe not just in US) most snake bite fatalities involve people who are drunk. Maybe we can infer from that that usually poisonous snakes don't go around attacking people, but that drunks may do things that put themselves at risk of getting badly bitten by poisonous snakes (maybe stepping on them, picking them up, petting them, teasing them?). Italy is not a country known for much drunkenness. Maybe it follows that snake bite fatalities aren't too common in Italy, even if there are poisonous snakes there.

One more interesting little tidbit to share. Maybe someone would like to go to this local festival: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/fe...als_snakes.htm

Not surprisingly we see a few similar enquiries on the Australia forum, and the responses are pretty much the same: yes, we have snakes; no, you're most unlikely to see any, because they're very timid and only dangerous if they feel directly threatened.

There are many scarier and more aggressive things than snakes. Some humans, for instance.

I'm not sure I understand the "snakes are horrible" concept. I happen to like snakes...had them as pets, even, when I was young. What the heck is it about snakes that freaks people out so? OK, some of them are poisonous...that's potentially scary, but the vast majority of them are not. Why are they any more frightening than other wild creatures?

I confess to having an aversion to lizards until I bought my house in the Dordogne and realized that lizards were going to be very much a part of everyday life there, at least when it was warm. Now I enjoy the heck out of them, give them names, love it when they venture past the front door two inches into the living room and then scoot out again.....

Why are so many people scared of snakes? Personally, I'm much more wary of scorpions, which are all over the south of Europe.

I forget where I read it, but might have been the Darwin Awards, where 2 guys were playing "catch" with a live snake. Naturally enough the snake got a bit "hissed off" and so bit one of them causing his death - if it was Darwin Awards then, thankfully, we are rid of that gene pool.

I'm not sure what it is that makes "us" (whoever WE are) so afraid of snakes. I've never had a close encounter with one; like I said, I'm a Philly girl (and have seen my share of other creepy things. I used to teach in an old school building in the city and we regularly had little visitors.) But snakes are my biggest fear, for reasons unknown. I think the way they slither around so quietly is part of it -- they seem to appear out of nowhere -- and just the way they look... Oooh... just the thought of it...

I just have to add this about my favorite Gonzaga University basketball player, David Prendergraft, who is from Brewster, Washington. One of the reasons he's my favorite is that in the summer he and his friends go rattlesnake hunting. Now that's a tough kid!

I think a lot of people don't like the idea of snakes as they think they are cold & slimy - but are fine when introduced to one & discover it's warm and dry. This happened to my mother at a small zoo & she even ended up having a photo taken with the snake round her neck !

I think that without even realizing it, many Americans and Europeans may fear or hate snakes because from early childhood they may have been influenced by snake imagery in their religion or the role of the snake in stories that are part of Christianity and also possibly part of Judaism. My guess is that this negative attitude toward snakes may be much less common in eastern cultures.

It's true, no snakes in Ireland,thankfully.
I did see some in a small stream in Vinci Tuscany last June. Italy is wonderful but I understand your concern.I am also terrified of them, having checked out repete site and currently planning a walking holiday in the appenine mts and Tuscany I was horrified to read that hikers were one of the favoured victims.Can any one please advise if walking trousers and boots are generally thick enough to ward off the little blighters.

I walked, then climbed the hillside between the towns in Cinque Terra and did not consider the fact that snakes were around this area, in July. I am also unhappy when I see a snake, to put it mildly. I did not encounter any on our hike and a definite hike it was! Relax about the snakes! Any recommendations for a villa for two,traveling with their beloved 5 pound maltipoo(dog),around Florence,Rada,Greve or somewhere in the Chianti Region? I do not want my pet eaten by snakes! Ha! PLB,wife of RLB

In reading the theories regarding why people fear snakes, I remembered the experience I had as a five year old. The bully who lived behind my family, in a suburb of New Orleans,came up behind me and wrapped a snake around my neck.I still, at age 56, remember running until the snake fell off,which seemed like an eternity. Later snake encounters,included water skiing and being told to not move ,a snake was swimming across the ski rope.(water moccasin)I also rearranged a snake(blew it away),after climbing into a duck blind and it was perched in a bush next to me.I have been able to overcome my fear a bit,as a teacher on a field trip to the local zoo,I held a snake while seeing it to my students. PLB

It's so weird that "snakes" are being discussed as if there were only one kind, when there are hundreds of varieties. Some are poisonous, some not, and there is a wide variety of behaviors too.

I do sympathize with anyone who has an extreme phobia about them, (I'm afraid of them too), but I've also seen quite a few over the years, some have crossed my path, and in response to Ira, I once found a large snakeskin that had been shed in the dryer of our vacation house while we weren't there for a few months. None of the snakes I've seen ever made any agressive move toward me at all, and most times, they just retreat into some crevice in the rocks or back into the grass when left alone.
On the Amalfi Coast, I have been advised by locals to carry a stick and sweep the grasses or whatever by the side of the path if I'm hiking up in the hills, as they say there might be snakes, but I've never seen one, just alot of cute lizards darting around. ANd I've done alot of hiking up there with out any problems.
I hope the OP will read up on the subject and try to get more comfortable by becoming more knowledgeable, although fear of snakes is just one of those irrational things. Where is Steve Irwin when we need him!
Good luck BarbMH , I 'm sure that by the second day in that villa, you'll relax and enjoy things easily!

Thanks, Bellastarr. That is my hope -- that I'll be able to forget about it when we're there. I already put everyone on notice not to try any practical jokes thinking it would be funny to watch me go bananas! They'd instead probably end up transporting me to the local hospital for heart failure. The more I read about places that I've visited where people have seen snakes (Positano, Australia, Florida), but water skiing!! Geez! That's bizarre. BTW, PLB -- Did you get any revenge against that little bully that put the snake around your neck?