I am planning on going to Venice for 3 nights in June. I hear a lot of problems with mosquitos in Venice. I get eaten alive. Are they around in June? Also, trying to figure out a place to stay. Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Al Piave? They quoted me a price of 150 euros. Is it centrally located? Any other suggestions for a hotel would be helpful.

I was there last June & we did not have mosquitos.

I was there in May and there were mosquitos. They weren't awful, but our apartment had no screens, only shutters on the windows. It was too warm at night and we had to leave the shutters open so a few of the little buggers did get in.

It wasn't that bad though and I would go back in a heartbeat!

There may very well be some mosquitoes, but I was there this past July and not a mosquitoe in sight...and usually, mosquitoes always find me.

We just got back from Venice. Our room faced a canal and, yes, there were mosquitos. We had brought a plug-in mosquito repellent that did a good job.

Hi

I went to Venice in June and I didn't have much problem with mosquitos...but I have to admit that I sprayed myself a little bit before going out at night. I thought it would be bad in Venice but I had more trouble in Milan believe it or not. In Milan I really got eaten alive. I have posted a long trip report with pictures on my homepage www.gardkarlsen.com Maybe you can find some useful information there.

Have a great trip

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

Hi. I was just there last month. I never saw any mosquitos. HOWEVER, our hotel did not have any screens on the windows, only shutters. I closed them before we went to bed. I awoke in a pool of sweat and opened the shutters. My husband awoke in the morning with WELTS! on his back from the mosquito bites. I did not feel them or get bit, but boy did he!
Before you purchase a hotel, find out if they have air conditioning or at least, screens.
Venice was beautiful. Enjoy!

The abundance of mosquitos varies from year to year and you'll be sorry if you're not prepared. The apartment I use in Venice does not have screens and, as a photographer, I prefer this. I also love the cross-ventilation at night so I leave the windows open. I've tried numerous repellant lotions through the years and gave up on everything except "OFF." I keep a can hidden in a closet so that I don't have to pack one each and every visit.

Anitas, I read (maybe here) a good idea. Bring some tulle (the stuff they use for ballet tutus)that can be bought at a fabric store along with some tape. Tape the tulle to the window.

Now, as to Al Piave, Fluffy just got back from Italy & has posted a trip report. She stayed at Al Piave and HATED it! You can read her trip report. The owners were rude & the room awful. Granted she was coming from a place she loved, but I'd pick another place. Try the Locanda Orselo (locandaorselo.com)

Hi Anitas,

Others have recommended Autan, available in Italy, as a good mosquito repellent.

I've just returned from Italy, where I experienced both Northern and Southern. Here is my view of Italian mosquitos. They are too Italian to be a serious threat.

They fly so slowly that I could catch them in the air, and I have rather poor hand-eye coordination.

When they land on you, they look for just the right place to bite. You can swat them while they are deciding.

When they do attack, you can feel the sting and swat them while they are occupied.

If they do manage to bite you, the welts are very small, hardly itch at all, and go away in a day or so.

In short, they ain't nothin' compared to the Asian Tiger mosquitos we have here in Georgia.

PS,

Re your hotel, if you have the address you can look it up on www.multimap.com.

For hotel advice, see fluffy's trip report about the Tourist House Ghiberti.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34451379

I must disagree with Ira about Italian mosquitoes. Maybe it's just me, but every time I go to Italy, and no matter where I go, I get eaten alive by mosquitoes. My body must emit a sound or smell in mosquitoese that says "All You Can Eat Buffet".

I spent 5 weeks in Rome one summer. I returned to the US with over TWO HUNDRED mosquito bites. I had to turn to taking cortisone pills to soothe the itching. The welts did NOT go away after a day or so. They stuck around and around and around and around and around.

I have had similar, although less severe, cases of mosquitoism the other 3 times I've been to Italy. So it was a specific year or place that had an abnormally high number of mosquitoes. The airlines must call up every single mosquito in Italy and alert them as to when I'm coming and where I'm staying so that they know where and how to find me

I was last in Italy in late June 2002. This time I was prepared in that I brought some Sting-Eze that I bought in Walmart with me. The Sting-Eze at least made the itching tolerable but it hardly let me ignore my many bites.

Hi tdyls,

You have my sympathies. For my home-grown mosquitos, I have found that Caladryl Clear (or the Wal Mart substitute) is very good for stopping the itching and swelling.

I've been to Venice 4 times between May and August and never seem even 1 mosquito. Perhaps it has to do with what part of Venice one is in and/or the particular weather/rain conditions at the time.

I agree with GARD, though the mosquitoes didn't find me in Venice, they sure did in Milan. The biggest mosquitoes and the hungriest I've ever seen.

I was ready for the mosquitoes in Venice, having read on this board about them, luckily never had to use the spray. Our hotel was on the canal, but it did have AC, so our windows weren't open.

Good luck to you, but with Venice with mosquitoes is still worth it.

Our hotel in September did not have ac or screens. Misquitos did come in during the day, however,it was cool enough that we could shut the windows at night. Each evening we would do a misquito check and my husband would "snap" the ones on the ceiling (very high)with a towel by standing on a chair. That pretty much did the trick.

Can you bring insect repellant in your luggage on the plane? I like the tulle on the window idea but seems like a lot of work.

Although I don't love the thought of pesticides on my skin, Deet has been proven to work best (I believe 20/20 did a piece on this during the West Nile scare in NYC). I brought a new can to Venice this past May and it went in my checked luggage. Be careful with taping the tulle. The tape can rip the paint off when you go to remove it and the hotel will have the right to charge you for repairs.

Blue Tape is the answer - won't pull the paint off. Purchase at the hardware store in the paint section. I know this because I work with a youth group who hangs posters on the walls of a county owned building and we are only allowed to use Blue Tape because it won't damage the walls. I also use it when stenciling my walls to hold the stencil in place without ripping the paint off.

I am also mosquito obsessive since they always seem to find me in a crowded room! I found this terrific thing in the hardware store in Venice that works like a plug in deodorant, There is this disc that goes inside the plug in and although the smell isn't fabulous (better than DEET) it works! Honest! The one I have ( I brought one home) is call Grey-Mat, but there are several different brands that do the trick
Better than keeping my head under the pillow for 8 hours!

Isn't there a vitamin/supplement/herb you can take that naturally repels mosquitoes? I've been trying to remember what it is since we are planning a mosquito trip next month.