This morning, around 11 A.M., I fortunately met a male Aeskulapian snake, hidden under a plastic shelter, not very far from my home: weather was rather cool, but the sun was pleasantly warm and the sky very clear. In the days before it has been raining.
25-30 years ago, finding an Aeskulapian snake in the hills of the province of Pavia was not so strange: it was always interesting and beautiful, but not necessarily an exceptional event.
Nowadays snakes are become very rare, mainly (and surely in my opinion) due to road traffic killing, and probably also for other reasons (introduction of many wild boars? direct killing by increased tourismus?).
The habitat was typical for Asculapian: wood at the edge of a small river, with some transictional vegetation and many open areas.
Here are the pictures (sorry, I had only my Nokia phone with me!)