Are there mosquitoes in Sicily? Yes, plus the sand flies that bite after dark.

Yes. The Asian tiger mosquito lives in every Sicilian province and bites by day in courtyards, gardens and at outdoor tables, and night-biting mosquitoes come in through unscreened windows. The island had no human West Nile case in 2026 and has never recorded local dengue or chikungunya. What Sicily does have is leishmaniasis, spread by tiny sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, so the evening coat of repellent matters as much as the morning one.

A quiet year for mosquito-borne viruses

Italy's national health institute (ISS) counted 780 locally acquired West Nile cases nationwide in 2026, in data to October 28, and none with exposure in Sicily. ISS still lists Sicily among the regions where the virus circulated this year, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) recorded one outbreak in animals in Siracusa province as of October 7. In 2025 the island had a handful of human cases.

ECDC's records of local dengue since 2010 and local chikungunya since 2007 list no Sicilian case, and none of Italy's 2026 dengue clusters or its single chikungunya case was on the island. CDC has no travel notice for Italy and recommends no malaria medicine, and the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required. Our Italy briefing covers the rest of the country.

The tiger mosquito still bites, mostly in the morning and late afternoon. Put repellent on over sunscreen before a morning in Ortigia or Palermo's old town and again in the late afternoon; our daytime-mosquito routine has the schedule. After dark the night biters take over. Italian windows often lack screens, so close them before you switch on the lights, book air conditioning, or run a plug-in vaporizer from the supermarket.

Sand flies and leishmaniasis

CDC's Italy page lists leishmaniasis, a parasite spread by phlebotomine sand flies, and it is endemic in Sicily. A study in the journal Microorganisms counted 467 human cases on the island from 2013 to 2021, 71% of them the skin form, with Agrigento (45.4%) and Palermo (37%) provinces reporting the most. Hospital surveillance confirmed 67 more cases in 2022–2024, 46 in Palermo province, 20 in Agrigento and 1 in Caltanissetta, according to a 2026 study in Parasites & Vectors. Researchers trapped more than 75,000 sand flies around homes there from May to October.

Sand flies are tiny and silent, so you may not notice the bites. For a short trip the risk is low, and the evening routine covers it. Put repellent on before dinner outdoors and keep it on until bed, wear light long layers at a country house or agriturismo, and sleep in a closed room. That matters most around Palermo and Agrigento.

June is easiest, and fall can bite

June is the easiest summer month. July and August bring the heat, often 95–104°F (35–40°C), and the most tiger mosquito bites, though dry weather tends to keep numbers down outside watered gardens and hotel grounds. Sand flies are out from May to October, with the most caught in warm spells of 68–82°F (20–28°C) after moderate rain, and most human leishmaniasis diagnoses fall between late spring and early autumn. September and October tend to bring more mosquitoes than April and May, especially after rain, so a fall trip still calls for repellent.

Where you're going

How four Sicilian bases compare for a June–September trip.

Adding Naples or Rome? Our Amalfi Coast and Rome briefings cover them.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from three older TripAdvisor threads and linked so you can read them in full. None is recent, one is about April, and bites in Sicily swing with rain and with how rural your base is.

• Siracusa and the Vendicari Reserve · June

  Asked about mosquitoes on a June stay near Siracusa, one replier said they are not exceptional there, though people who react badly should take precautions, and another said Sicily is no worse than anywhere warm. A poster thought the rural, wild Vendicari Reserve would be prime mosquito territory and that hotels without air conditioning are more exposed because windows stay open. The thread is old. TripAdvisor ↗

• Taormina

  In a thread from around 2013, a poster said tiger mosquitoes had not been seen in Taormina and that mosquitoes disappear when it is dry, and another said the countryside has more trouble with mosquitoes than the town. A later reply pointed to 2012 data showing that the tiger mosquito had spread. TripAdvisor ↗

• Cefalù · April

  In an older thread about mosquitoes in Cefalù in April, the town was described as fairly mosquito-free. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip, especially with rash or joint pain, means a doctor visit, and so does a skin sore that doesn't heal in the weeks or months after. Tell the doctor you were bitten in Sicily.

Traveler questions