You know it is SUMMER in Venice when ... 22 impressions ...

Tourists resting on a landing stage looking out upon the Canal Grande

Have you ever been to Venice during the REAL hot days of summer, that are also called i giorni di solleone? How do Venetians perceive that summer has come upon us? 

Here are 22 personal impressions that my grandmother and I collected, and that I would like to share with you in this Blog. 

So this is how WE know it is summer in Venice.. 

1) When during the first rays of the morning sun, the blackbirds have stopped singing; yes, there is still the twittering concert of sparrows and the cooing of doves, but the defining tunes of the blackbirds are missing ..

Blackbird sitting in the parched grass, amidst summer flowers and dry leaves in the Giardini Reali in July

2) When you gladly succeed in falling asleep at 05:00 am, because this is the time when a light breeze sets in, bringing slightly cooler air into your room, a heaven which lasts until about 7:30 am, and then the sun starts parching again ..

Early morning view ..

3) When in the early morning by 08:00 am, my grandmother has to take her pot plants from the sun-exposed living room balcony into the room, otherwise they would simply burn (which they did, I remember, back in 2005, which was a particularly parching summer). No use even watering them properly ...

The pot plants need to be shielded from the burning sun, as the sun fully hits them from mid-morning

4) When you wake up at 08:15 am, beckoned by a sweet scent coming from the direction of the kitchen, because Grandmother is up and baking a summer cake for breakfast (mostly crostata di frutta di pasta frolla). She loves baking summer berry tarts, such as tarts with blueberries and red and white currants, and amarene cherries ..

This is my grandmother's vanilla-scented summer fruit cake, click here for the recipe.

5) When you cannot have breakfast anymore in the sun on the terrace or altana (roof terrace) after 9:00 am, because the sun is getting too strong and you get blinded when you sit here without sun glasses  for longer than five minutes ..

Flower-shielded balcony going out on a canal ..

6) When you set off on your walk to buy groceries at the market nearby before 08:30 am, or sometimes, when you are early enough or need a special ingredient, at the Rialto market. You need to do that by 09:30 am, otherwise the Rialto bridge gets too congested and it is very hot to cross the bridge at a slow pace in the full sun which is reflected by the white Istrian stone ...

Even at 09:00 am, the Rialto Bridge is already quite crowded ..

7) When the flower stores don't arrange their flowers in the middle of the campo next to the pozzo (fountain), but under huge sunshades, because otherwise they would die in the sun ..

Flower store at Campiello San Rocco

8) When it is a real "thermal shock" entering a shop, because they turn on the airconditioning so strong that it sometimes makes you catch a summer flu or at least a raffredore (cold), as these fans are switched on from early in the morning until late at night ..

Enjoying breakfast in a SUPER AIR-CONDITIONED zone, Campo Erbaria, Rialto

9) When at the Rialto market you can find lots and lots of cestini di ribes rosso, mirtilli, and other mountain berries ... arriving from the Dolomiti - Belluno and Trentino area ..

Blackberries, blueberries, red currants, raspberries, even mountain strawberries from the South Tyrol (Schnalstal) are now available at the Rialto Market

10) When the water in the canals (rii) takes on that special hue of very light turquoise color ...

Verde turchese - the special Venetian summer water shade and shine

11) When people take adavantage of every bit and corner of shade there is in town, and painstakingly avoid the sunny spots ..

Taking a rest in the shade in Torcello, this is the Church of Santa Fosca

12) When at the arcades framing in Piazza San Marco (which is also very congested), the white fluffy and transparent-looking curtains (but actually made of very thick and sun-shielding material) are closed to shield the guests having a cappuccino break in the Piazza from the sun ..

Curtains shut out the sun at Caffé Lavena, Piazza San Marco

13) When you see tourists rest all over the lawns of the public gardens in town ..

We often notice tourists picknick and/or ..

.. rest in the cooler shade, under the trees at the Giardini Reali next to Piazza San Marco

14) When you cannot grow herbs from seeds in pots placed on your balcony, window sill or terrace, in case the place is exposed to the sun for longer than one hour a day, even though the offer at the flower shops is tempting ..

No use buying rucola seeds right now, even though Fioreria Fantin is tempting me badly. Seeds only take well after Ferragosto ..

 15) When it is hopeless to keep a bar of chocolate anywhere else for an hour but in the fridge ..

These days, chocolates only last in the fridge, with the exception of the colored varieties made of pure cocoa butter

16) When my grandmother absolutely refuses to leave the house between 01:30 and 04:30 pm .. and instead prepares red currant berries jam ..

... View from the window overlooking the canal ...

... Red currant jam flavored with strawberry mint

17) When the birds living in the Giardini Reali gardens take a collective siesta under a tree ..

Giardini Reali Gardens: Siesta under the pittosporum shrub ..

18) When the only time we go to take some air in the evening, down to Riva degli Schiavoni, is after 09:00 pm, because this is the time when at this location, a very slight breeze comes up and the daytrippers have left ..

A late-night image of the Bridge of Sighs, taken from the Ponte della Canonica which I pass on my way back home ...

19) When nights become totally airless and you need to turn on the airconditioning in your room now and then, to discourage the mosquitoes, which otherwise would not leave you alone until the early hours in the morning..

People dining outside until very late at night. this is Campo San Filipo e Giacomo, near Piazza San Marco

20) When the shower in your bedroom located on the third floor is not working in the evening, as water may become scarce during the summer and there is not enough pressure to pump the water up ...

View from the third-floor bedroom ..

21) When the sound of rolling suitcases reverberates on the pavements of Venice all night long, as transatlantic flights arrive at night and people look for their hotels in the maze of narrow alleys in Venice ..

Venice is rather still after midnight - with one exception: summer months

22) When the gondolieri's barcarole (songs) keep you up and going in case you have gone to bed before midnight, as the canal flows by just below your bedroom window ... listen to the video below what this is like ..

People passing by in gondolas in the narrow canals under our windows ..

... While you know the END of summer, in the sense of REALLY hot days, is approaching, when the billboards announcing the Regata Storica spring up around town. The Regata Storica takes place on the first Sunday in September.

Regata Storica billboards spring up all around town about 10 days before it takes place ..