We moved from the city in Britain to the country side in Abruzzo. It was more than just a culture shock. I maintain that even for people who move in Britain from the city to the country would have quite a few things to get used to.
One of the things you have to get used to is bugs. The Abruzzo countryside is literally teaming with nature. Tehre is so much to see and it is amazing in it's variety. We must remember that much of Abruzzo is simply uninhabited Nature reserve. In these rich natural areas there are many different creatures. In fact I once read that you can find 30% of Europen species in Abruzzo, pretty amazing.

My husband and I have seen huge eagles, many, many owls, badgers, bats, foxes, squirrels, wild boar amongst others. All the wildlife seems to thrive in the warm climate.
Oneother thing that thrives is the bugs. Wow do they thrive...and they come in and it is war.
I try really hard not to use chemicals in our home., we have a lot of pets and it don't think strong chemicals can be good for humans either.
This means it is a constant war to keep the bugs out, the main culprits are:
Ants
Mosquitoes
Spiders
Beatles
The easiest thing to do with mosquitoes is get mostquito nets fitted.
The spiders seem to build new webs every day.
Ants seem to encroach just a little bit closer every day. It is a constant battle. Once they take hold they take over.
Scorpions
We don't have this problem here but in our old house we had scorpions, quite a lot of them. They always hide under rocks. So be careful when you pick stuff up. They don't like the light and normally hide in small dark places. They are not terrible poisonous in Abruzzo and it is similar to a bee sting. I think it's unlikely to sting you unless you pick it up or stand on it. That said of course I have an irrational fear of them. The first night we arrived in our new home in Abruzzo there was a huge one on the kitchen wall inside the house. I had never seen one before and totally freaked out. I lay awake all night imagining scorpions stinging my feet under the covers. I convinced myself that our whole house was infested with them.
In truth I have never seen once upstairs and since we moved to Manoppello area I have never seen one since..... but many other types of bugs.
Lizards and snakes
There are zillions of snakes and lizards in Abruzzo. They come in all different shapes and sizes.
Black snakes are harmless – they are grass snakes. Most snakes you see will be black.
Poisonous snakes have a triangular shaped head and are not black.
Bright green or multicoloured lizards are poisonous and should not be handled. If one comes into your house you should removed it with caution. They bite and don't let go. But it is quite a gummy bite.
Living in the the countryside can be quite gross.
Aside from all the above and waging ware on the mini-beasts there is also some yucky stuff that you have to do when you live in the countryside.
At first I was a bit shocked by it all, but now I am unphased and take most of it in my stride.
On an average morning I will:
Get up
Make a cup of tea
Walk through chicken poo in my slippers to let the chuckies out.
Clean up cat vomit.
Pull a tick off the dog.
Feed the chuckies leftovers that make me want to chuck up.
Generally anything that involves animals is both gross and disgusting. They make a lot of mess, pooh and vomit. I used to look quite smart, now I look like a wiley cat woman who is a farmers wife!! But we adore all our animals and would not change a thing.