Zanzara

My A-Z Challenge series is about Italy, it's lifestyle, the country and other miscellaneous things in regard to it.

Zanzara, a word to strike dread in my heart when I hear it. Translated to Mosquito, anyone who has lived or travelled in Italy will know of these little beasties. Of course you get them all over the world, especially in hotter damp countries but I never used to have a problem with them in Italy till a few years ago. I don't know what happened but they started to like the taste of my blood which they never did before. Maybe I'm not eating enough garlic, one of the repellents said to work against their horrid stinging of you. Maybe I should just rub cloves of garlic all over my body, though nicer smelling citronella is better. To try to keep them away burn citronella candles or rub yourself with citronella wipes. There are several ways to keep them away including vibrational electronic gadgets which work to greater and lesser degrees but the best way to keep them off you is to keep a fly swatter near you at all times, or even better a fly zapper which resembles a bat but is battery powered and kills mosquitoes with a 'zip!' sound when hit. That'll do them!

They seem to be getting bigger the bites growing with them, and they don't half sting. Do not scratch it if you get bitten, you'll only make it worse, but apart from the sting they itch!! Horrid things. They are more prevalent near water, so if you are near the sea be prepared once the sun goes down, close all doors and windows and shutters once it starts getting dark as they home in on the light. Have plenty of cooling aids if you are prone to getting bitten, and try to get a suntan as they prefer whiter skin, probably as it shows up more in the dark.

Some parts of Italy are worse than others for Zanzare, Liguria is said to be very bad for them having mal aria (bad air) there in the past, though cleaned up now. In fact mal aria (bad air) is how the word malaria came about. You are fairly unlikely to get malaria in Italy, though with climate change it apparently is making a come back but too small to worry about, so I believe at the moment. I was going to add a picture of a Zanzara close up but though it might be too scary for some readers, I certainly didn't like it and just wanted to swat it, even though I'll happily rescue spiders and woodlice from my house These creatures carry my vengeance with them, which anyone who has regularly been stung by them leaving big red marks and itching will understand, I'm sure.

Not such a nice Z to end on the Challenge with, I'm afraid. I shall be persusing other blogs to see their Zs and see if they may be a little more cheerful. Well done everyone - we've done it!