Italian restaurant workers toiling in extreme temperatures say British tourists are in short supply this summer, with one saying customers are simply too hot to eat and drink much.
Adriana Deligios, a part-time waitress at Il Mirto in Alghero, northwest Sardinia, said there had been fewer UK visitors this year “especially in May and June”.
“We’ve had a few lately, but this year there are only a few Brits,” the 32-year-old told i.
Sardinia is at the epicentre of a heatwave that has brought blistering temperatures to much of southern Europe this week, with some inland areas reaching 47.7°C.
Ms Deligios said the heat was “certainly not good” for staff. “In kitchen there a lot more degrees than what you have outside so it’s intense, but obviously the business has to go on, the tourists are still here so you can’t do much about it.”
A restaurant manager in Cagliari, the southern capital and one of the worst-hit areas on the island, told i her chef had fainted while working as the kitchen reached 63°C.
Researchers say that 40-50°C is likely to be the limit for humans to function optimally.
“This [heat] isn’t normal. I’ve been doing this job for 30 years and we have never reached such temperatures outside or inside the restaurant, or in the kitchen,” said Valeria Cruccas, 51.
“This heat is damaging us. Customers, understandably, aren’t drinking and are eating half what they would usually eat because it’s too hot,” Ms Cruccas said, adding that it felt “like winter again. The times are awful.”
She said the electric thermometer had recorded 63°C in the restaurant kitchen. “Three people there were working with ice packs on their head.”
The European heatwave, dubbed Charon after the Greek mythological figure who ferried souls to the underworld, is expected to return to the Mediterranean country at the start of next week after a cooler weekend, according to Italian media.
Ms Cruccas said that in an ideal world, authorities would call for a closure of restaurants and similar businesses until the temperatures dropped. But even then she thinks her restaurant would stay open as, like much of Sardinia, it relies on summer tourism to get through the winter.
She said the kitchen had previously relied on fans to keep staff cool during the hottest times, but new regulations mean the restaurant must buy a specific air conditioning unit which it cannot afford, after bills jumped from a monthly €2,500 to €7,000 in the past year.
The heat has only exacerbated what she described as an already critical situation as the restaurant took a massive hit due to the cost of living crisis, a hike in energy prices and more than 60 per cent in tax.
“The owner of the restaurant, who works as much as I do, is only taking half of his pay so he can cover the full pay of other staff,” she said.
The UK’s Met Office expects temperatures in southern Europe will be 8°C to 12°C above seasonal norms well into August. China and North America are also struggling with intense heatwaves.
