Cagliari, those who work under the sun: "This is not a summer, it's torture"

Amaranth T-shirt glued to the body, jackhammer in hand and forehead dripping with sweat. "How is it going? It's hell», comments Alessandro.

The arrival of the holy mistral invoked by atheists and lay people from half the city after the days of endless fire and wind is not enough. Half an hour after 12, Cagliari is still gasping for air, with Caronte 2 which, over and above any democratic union claim, splits the workers in two : office workers, shopkeepers, lawyers, beneficiaries of air conditioning; the other half at the mercy of the column which seems to have jammed at forty degrees. The truce will also come, but they don't know it yet.

"How you do it? With four liters of water, energy drinks and a lot of good will», cuts short that Alessandro in the amaranth T-shirt, who is 45 years old and works for the company which - on Abbanoa's behalf - does its utmost to fix the leak between Piazza Yenne and the Santa Chiara market. He shares his mission and suffering with his colleague Mario, 36 years old and with a decidedly flexible schedule: "From 7.30 to who knows when, blessed are those who stay in the office with air conditioning".

Twenty minutes after noon we are at 35 degrees, with a humidity percentage of 50 percent which makes us perceive three more. The riders, stationed in Largo Carlo Felice waiting for orders, know this well: «It's tough, but in the end the important thing is to work. Let's grit our teeth and wait for winter», jokes Armando Onano, 26 years old and the standard uniform of Deliveroo.

Sara Marci