Earlier this summer I wrote that this year was a good year for insects, I was thinking, of course, about the beneficial effects that insect have on the environment. However, as my husband discovered when he was bitten by a couple of zecche (ticks), a good year for insects isn’t necessarily a good one for humans, especially when the insects in question are calabroni (hornets) and they decide to take up residence in your house! If you’ve never encountered a calabrone count yourself lucky. Imagine a wasp, three to four times its normal size, with a potent sting to match its bulk, now imagine a nest of these rather aggressive and territorial creatures deciding that they like the look of your house, perhaps they’ll move in, make themselves at home. Obviously you’d think twice about letting them stay, in fact you’d want to get rid of them pretty quickly. But wait, there are intelligent ways to deal with the problem and there are other less ‘conventional’ methods that are perhaps best avoided, as can be illustrated by the following article which I read a couple of days ago in a national newspaper:

Bomba anti-calabrone: distrugge casa

Un pregiudicato 41enne di Velletri utilizzando della polvere da sparo prelevata da copioso materiale pirotecnico, ha realizzato in modo artigianale un ordigno esplosivo per distruggere un nido di calabroni che si trovava in una fessura perimetrale della palazzina di casa. La bomba esplosa verso le 20 di giovedì ha distrutto un’intera parete che divideva due abitazioni diverse, provocando gravi danni strutturali e danneggiando anche alcune auto in sosta nelle vicinanze.

ARRESTATO – I Carabinieri della Stazione di Artena, che si trovavano già in via Velletri dove è avvenuta l’esplosione, per terminare i rilievi di un incidente stradale nel quale aveva perso la vita un motociclista di Valmontone, hanno sentito l’esplosione e fermato l’uomo che sarà giudicato per direttissima dal Giudice di Velletri

Anti-Hornet bomb: destroys house

A 41 year old ‘previous offender’ from Velletri, using gunpowder taken from large quantities of pyrotechnic material, created a home made explosive device in order to destroy a hornets nest located in a crack in the outside wall of his apartment. The bomb, which exploded at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, destroyed an entire wall which divided two different dwellings, causing serious structural damage, and even damaging some cars parked nearby.

ARRESTED – The Carabinieri (military police) from Artena station, who were already in Via Velletri where the explosion took place, concluding the investigation of a road accident in which a motorcyclist from Valmontone lost his life, heard the explosion and arrested the man, who will be tried immediately by the Judge in Velletri.

So the moral of this tale? Never detonate your home made bombs when the Carabinieri are within hearing distance!