A Cold Front Reaches Italy, and the Riviera Counts Its Season

Rain and cooler weather are set to spread across Italy as a cold front arrives, with the north seeing the first showers before the rain moves toward the central and southern regions, according to The Local Italy. The shift follows a record-hot summer that the foreign press has covered as a season of strain on the country's coasts and cities.

For Liguria the arrival of the front is the point at which the Riviera's season begins to turn. The region's coastal economy runs on the long shoulder months — terraced vineyards above the Cinque Terre, beach clubs along the Levante, the ferry and excursion traffic out of Genoa's port — and a cold front in mid-September is the signal that the counting starts. The wire names the north first, which places Liguria at the front of the change rather than at its tail.

The Local Italy's report does not give rainfall totals, wind speeds or a duration for the front, and this desk will not supply them. What the item supports is the sequence: north first, then centre and south, cooler air behind the rain.