Staying cool without AC in Italy
The last two summers in Italy have been particularly hot. While according to recent weather news the summer of 2025 will bring some respite, as El Nino fades, there's no doubt that climate change will bring more of these hot summer days. Air-conditioning is often used to keep homes liveable, but there are many other ways to keep houses and ourselves cooler during a heat-wave - here are some of the best - including ways to keep our body heat down when we're out of the home.
When I grew up in Tuscany we also had hot summers, with the occasional heat-wave up into the high 30s and low 40s. We relied on traditional methods and on the particular qualities of the vernacular architecture, built to deal with heat.
Best ways to cool a house down without AC
Close your curtains or blinds
During the heat of the day, don't let the sunlight enter the house: close the curtains or blinds to keep the sun and the heat out. Italian windows often have wooden blinds set on the outside walls - these are great as glass can really trap heat, so shading helps keep the interior cool. Closing the house down like this makes the interior dark, and that's a feature I remember from our summers - the contract between the blinding outdoor sunlight and the penumbra of the interiors.
Have thick walls
When you're renting a villa in Italy it will probably be a historic building and, whether formal and noble, or simple and vernacular, it will have thick masonry walls. Thick walls give a building a high thermal mass, and high thermal mass means that it takes a lot of time and energy to warm the structure up. So if you keep these old buildings shaded and cool, they will keep a steady pleasant temperature even as the outside temperatures range a lot between day and night.
Get cross-flow going in the evening
As the day cools, it's great to get a flow of air through the house, removing the hot air and replacing with the cooling evening air. Air is like a river and it needs to have a place to flow in and out, so make sure you open windows a route through the building for the air to flow through.
Use ceiling fans and insect screens
When you open windows in the evenings, insect screens are very useful to make sure that it's only air coming in, and to keep the bugs out. When combined with silent ceiling fans, this is a great way to cool a house down. As the fans are silent you could even leave them running overnight, though I've generally found that by midnight I'm happy to turn them off as the room has cooled enough.
Use box fans
If you have portable fans then they're great to get air flowing through the house as soon as the evening air cools down. Remember to have a clear idea of the flow, and where the hot air you're moving should go, so you don't just end up pushing it into a corner. Give it somewhere to escape to.
Close connecting doors
If there are areas of your villa that you're not using, close the door to that area to keep the cool air confined to the occupied areas of the house.
Trees and height help
Like thick walls, this isn't something you can change, but it is something you can choose - when you're looking at possible summer villas for your family holidays, remember that hard surfaces radiate heat, while trees and vegetation shade and breakdown the sun's power. It's quite remarkable how much of an effect vegetation can have, try noticing the difference if walking down a treeless city avenue, or down a shady boulevard.
Use the AC carefully
While these rules might be crucial if you're in a house with no AC (and there are plenty of them, as many owners object to AC on the basis that it is technology that is exacerbating climate change), there also useful if you're in a villa with AC, and can save you a lot of electricity costs (most villa owners have chargeable AC in order to moderate its use). If you are keeping the house shaded, and opening up cross ventilation in the evening, the AC is just another tool, something you can turn on intermittently, just to take the worse of the heat away when necessary.
Best ways to keep cool without AC
We've discussed how to keep your house or villa cool without AC (or while using AC sparingly) but what about yourselves, which methods can be useful if you're away from the house, or if you just want to make yourself more comfortable?
Drink lots of liquids
You'll be losing a lot of fluids through sweating, so make sure you drink more than normal - and ideally not alcoholic drinks, save those for the evening. Water is always good, but juices, iced tea or anything is better than nothing.
Change your timetable
When the weather is very hot, it's best to stay inside the shaded house during the hottest part of the day, from 11 to 3pm. Why not try to nap during that time and get up a little earlier, when the air is still cool, and stay up a little later, when the world is cooling down. You'll find most of the village out in the main square around midnight, including children, and it's a great time to meet the locals and see village life.
Use damp cloths
If you're really feeling the heat, try putting damp cloths on your wrists, or drape one over your neck. These points are where blood vessels are close to the skin so cooling these areas down will help cool your whole body.
Author: Dan Wrightson
Dan Wrightson grew up in Tuscany, Italy and has been writing about, sketching and exploring Tuscany and Italy since 1983.
23rd Apr 2025 9th Jan 2025