Italian heatwave pushes up demand for air conditioning

(26 Jul 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Rome, Italy - 25 July 2023 1. Client looking at air conditioners on display HEADLINE: Italian heatwave pushes up demand for air conditioning 2. Employee helping client put air conditioner box in cart ANNOTATION: At this DIY store on the outskirts of Rome, shoppers are busy loading up air condition units. 3. Air conditioner box 4. Client and employee at computer in air conditioners section ANNOTATION: Demand has shot up in the past few weeks as the temperatures soar outside. 5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Alice Seminara, employee at Leroy Merlin: PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOT 6 “Surely, the great heat pushes clients to buy impulsively and request an air conditioner. Usually, the month when we reach the peak (of sales) is July and, as a matter of fact, in the last 10 days of the month we have registered a great increase in sales, we’ve sold as many as 45-50 air conditioners per day.“ 6. Various of clients with air conditioner boxes in carts 7. Various of fans in restaurants, tourists ANNOTATION: Italians have been slow to adapt to using air conditioners. ANNOTATION: But those in the tourist trade know the value of offering air conditioning. 8. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Elvis Costanza, owner of “Giganti“ restaurant: “People ask you before going inside if you have air conditioners, it is more important to have air (conditioning) than to know if you make the classic carbonara, cacio and pepe, amatriciana, it doesn’t matter much, the important thing is that there is air (conditioning).“ 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Hardeep Toor, British tourist: “We are looking for places that have air conditioning and keeping it as cool as possible so hydrated, water. Yeah, air conditioning is very important in this heat.“ 10. Various of campo dei Fiori 11. Woman in street sitting down with fan ANNOTATION: Demand for electricity reportedly shot up by 30 percent in Rome in early July, putting pressure on the power grid. STORYLINE: At a large home improvement store on the outskirts of Rome, clerks bustle around helping shoppers load new air conditioners on carts. They say the demand has shot up in the past few weeks as the temperatures soar outside. “In the last 10 days of the month we have registered a great increase in sales,” said Alice Seminara, an employee working in the air conditioner department at Leroy Merlin. “We’ve sold as many as 45- 50 air conditioners per day.“ Unlike many people from the United States and other parts of the world, Italians have been slow to adapt to the use of air conditioners in homes, small stores and restaurants. Now, with record breaking heat in southern Italy, and temperatures easily pushing past 37 degrees Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) for weeks, many are finding air conditioning to be a necessity. Italians working with tourists know that if they want to do business, they need to provide air conditioning. Back when the temperatures were lower in the summer, people enjoyed eating their pasta sitting at tables outdoors. Now, says Elvis Costanza, owner of the “Giganti” restaurant in Rome Campo Dei Fiori, they don’t care if they can get a plate of carbonara or amatriciana, the only thing they ask about is whether the restaurant has air conditioning. To allow tourists to enjoy the outdoor experience, he has placed large mist-spraying fans around the outdoor area of his restaurant. His statement was reinforced by Hardeep Toor, a British tourist who said air conditioning played a very important part in their restaurant choices. =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: