Hiding from 'L'Onda di Calore' in Italy

I used to look at Italian houses with their shutters tightly closed, as if they were unoccupied, and wonder why, on a beautiful sunny day, they closed up like moonflowers.

But now I know.  There comes a moment, sometime after lunch, when the air outside becomes a lot hotter than the air inside.  That's the time to close the windows and the shutters and keep as much of the precious cool air in as you can.  We've been suffering - like other parts of Europe - from a wave of heat bulging up from North Africa, laden with sand and red dust. We've also had some spectacular storms.  This was a few days ago.  Pietrasanta, our small town, was under the brightly lit centre.  We were sitting outside a small bar and watched it come over us like an alien space ship.

Photo Guy Fletcher

Temperatures have been soaring above 40 degrees, tourists have been collapsing in Florence and there was a Tromba d'Aria (a tornado) in the Veneto  yesterday- this is one of the press photos.

 It killed at least one person and injured more than ninety, destroying houses, shops and cars.  This is the aftermath.

This is July in Italy, with August's temperatures and some very unusual weather.  Just now I can't be parted from the fan and it's too tiring to do anything but walk to the fridge for a cold drink.