For more than a week Italy has been suffering from a heat wave. A large anticyclone had come up from Africa which means temperatures in the low 30s, humidity and some sleepless nights. It’s the weather normally associated with August rather than May. The television is filled with advice on surviving the heat – keeping cool, eating fruit etc. In fact its the same advice given every year in August but provides another opportunity to show the footage of people dipping their feet in fountains and eating ice cream.