So how has 'Summer' 2014 been for you?

Not a great summer in Italy!

Last year we were sweltering in 30C+ temperatures and had to buy fans to keep us cool at night.   Not so this year.  Rain!  Cloud!  Cool days and even cooler nights!

The geraniums rotted in their pots from being too wet.  A hailstorm in early July knocked the grapes off the vines and the olives off the trees.  The grass, usually brown, needed mowing once or twice a week.  Surely gloom and doom.   

But hey!  This is Italy!  The food is still fabulous, the people still warm and welcoming and the country/architecture is still stunning.  So who needs a heatwave?    A friend of ours, who rents a house out locally, is already fully re-booked for next year.  

We've just had the best time here this year, despite the 'iffy' weather.  What about you?

Damn right appalling Summer, only been in the pool 5 times this year, ruined our tomatoes, rotted our pot plants. Top that with Thunderstorms every week, and last week an Earthquake. Worst Summer I can remember here and bloody cold.

ghiro wrote:Not a great summer in Italy! Last year we were sweltering in 30C+ temperatures and had to buy fans to keep us cool at night.   Not so this year.  Rain!  Cloud!  Cool days and even cooler nights!The geraniums rotted in their pots from being too wet.  A hailstorm in early July knocked the grapes off the vines and the olives off the trees.  The grass, usually brown, needed mowing once or twice a week.  Surely gloom and doom.   

But hey!  This is Italy!  The food is still fabulous, the people still warm and welcoming and the country/architecture is still stunning.  So who needs a heatwave?    A friend of ours, who rents a house out locally, is already fully re-booked for next year.  

We've just had the best time here this year, despite the 'iffy' weather.  What about you?

What a nice post, there was a similar one recently on the same subject on another forum, but this was, "we have been here, done this and that..." etc. Someone even wrote that they came here for sunshine and real hot weather and were thinking of going off to Spain if it did not improve... (just in case they look in on this forum)

Well the rain did save us water and the plants in any case seem to prefer it! The temperatures were much more pleasant for sitting in and sleeping at night. However, as someone said, we did come here for the weather and they kind of liked it getting in to the 40c+ temperatures, bit like my mum always saying "we'll be snowed in" when there was a hard frost! For us, having never seen such a summer, we had prepared for the same as the others gone by! So that was a bit of a waste of time. We did spend a month or more in the UK June/July (well the world cup was on), so perhaps that's why we feel we have never had the real summer. To be honest, every year here, including this one of course, have been totally different - and all magic still... Long may it last.

Not as blinding hot as last year so saved on aircon still hitting the low 30's though

pas55 wrote:Not as blinding hot as last year so saved on aircon still hitting the low 30's though

Temps here not quite 30c, but according to weather stats, since the 1st September here we have had 25c+ apart from 2 days where it was a cool 22c. For us 25c is ideal, not that we mind 40c+, but that does mean we do little or nothing and after 2-3 weeks of it we long for 25c again.