Two Parts Italy

Shady spots are the place to be on a hot August day

One thing is certain – if it’s August in Italy, it’s hot!

I usually avoid being in Italy during August for just that reason, not to mention the summer crowds. But there are some things that can drag me back to Italy during August. One year it was a much-delayed Permesso appointment (an unavoidable bureaucratic task to remain “legal”). This year it was the timing of a move to a new apartment, a not-so-flexible date. And so I arrived back last week just in time for Italy’s latest heat wave.

August in Lucca means heat and lots of visitors. Some years, August brings a festival of paper art, a nice diversion on a hot day (above, August 2021 with an art piece from the Cartasia festival in the archway). No such luck this year thought, we’ll have to wait for next year.

I’ll take my coffee cold during a heat wave

The weather is often a topic of conversation here, never more than when it is brutally hot. With temperatures hovering right around 100 degrees, the heat seems to be part of every conversation. From a simple fa caldo or che caldo (it’s hot!) to sto morendo di caldo (I am dying of the heat), there are lots of ways to complain about the temperature.

One might exclaim that it is caldissimo (very hot, scorching) or una giornata caldissima (a really hot day) – certainly true this week as we suffer through un’ondata di caldo (heat wave)

Ho caldo (I am hot) is commonly heard. But don’t make the mistake of saying sono caldo because changing the verb from avere (to have, ho caldo) to essere (to be, sono caldo) proclaims that you are a very different kind of hot, the kind not at all related to temperature!

Of course, in August it is also humid, which adds another layer of discomfort. Humidity is l’umidità. L’afa is the scorching, muggy combination of heat + humidity. Today is a good example – che afa oggi!

Sailing school in Rapallo would be a great hot weather activity, just don’t forget the sunscreen and a hat!

The are ways to work around the brutal heat. It is best to do a few errands in the morning and then stay inside for the rest of the day. Air conditioning is becoming much more common in Italy (despite the fear of getting sick due to a colpo d’aria, hit of cold air). And while my old apartment had a very ineffective “pinguino” (a portable AC unit shaped a bit like a penguin), my new place has powerful AC – a definite bonus!

Cold drinks are a lifesaver, iced tea and iced coffee seem like miracles on a hot day. A cold cocktail in the evening is a joy too, especially in a shady piazza. And some foods, like this plate of cool cucumber and smoked salmon, make for a light and refreshing start to an August lunch. Of course, gelato is always in order.

Water – be it lake or ocean – is a wonderful antidote to a hot summer day. The Ligurian coast will be crowded, but the water will definitely cool you off.

Levanto, just north of the Cinque Terre, and a little less crowded, is a favorite place on the Ligurian coast

A few Augusts ago, after that required permesso appointment, I escaped to Lake Como where it was at least 10 degrees cooler than Lucca. Still hot, still humid, and still crowded but somehow the lake views and the boat rides worked to decrease the pain of l’afa. Sipping a cosmopolitan by the lake didn’t hurt either!

My weather app tells me that we should cool off this week, and I hope that is true – even though my weather app has been known to be un bugiardo (a liar). In the meantime, I think a little bit of melone e prosciutto will make a perfect August lunch.