More stories from Viareggio

A thunderstorm, the internet man, beans and pasta, more rain and the bin ladies, along with lots of fish, little cakes, takeaway pizza and a forboding

Now we chose to go to Florence yesterday because the forecast here in Viareggio had been for rain. Instead the sun had shone.

Today we got the rain, and not that miserable drizzle which we had left behind in the city but a full blown heavy storm with lightening thunder and torrential rain. There had been rain in the night and as ever there was hope that this was it. Sitting on the balcony with a first espresso of the day the heavy storm clouds seemed to be moving west out to sea and behind there was the hint of blue breaking through.

All of this was a little too optimistic, and I suppose I should have taken some warning from the distant roll of thunder, and as you do counting the space between the lightning flashes and the thunder draw the obvious conclusion that the storm was drawing closer.

The stillness of the air is matched by an ever darkening of the sky and the return of the street lights. Then as if on queue the few light drops of rain become a massive downpour which seems to have no end in sight. The street clears, water gushes out of drain pipes and rain bounces back off the pavement. It lasts for no more than ten minutes before giving way to a less intense but no less steady downpour, which lasts much longer. We close the shutters and then the widows and are forced back on artificial light. Outside the steady downpour and growing darkness reinforce the sense that we are all alone.

Then as suddenly as it had started it was over. But it leaves a legacy. As the storm clouds clear from the west leaving the first blue patches to appear over the sea, the street fills with people. They carry umbrellas, wear jumpers, and fleeces or that peculiar Italian waist coast which is really a padded sleeveless jacket. But most continue defiantly to wear sandals or flip flops as if to say, “Yes we know it is cold and the weather has taken a turn for the worst, but we are on holiday in a seaside resort and that demands we continue to maintain some at least of the summer”. And it is getting better. Already a few hardy souls are heading to the beach and the beach traders driven inland to look for markets are following.

The little old lady across the way is back on her seat in the front garden watching the business of the street unfold.

Only to the east away towards the mountains does it still look grim. The heavy grey clouds hang above the mist shrouded mountains and I think the people there are about to experience our own earlier misfortune.

Picture; waiting for customers, in Viareggio from the collection of Andrew Simpson