A sleepless night without the relief of air conditioning on the hottest day of the summer, appliances malfunctioning, and businesses forced to close, facing enormous losses.

Part of the historic center of Quartu has been without power for 12 hours, while the Sa Funtanedda area has had a 15-hour power outage. Repeated outages are causing enormous disruption, with the elderly and infirm falling ill, who have been unable to even enjoy the coolness of air conditioning for hours on yet another scorching day.

On Via Marconi, where tonight's beer festival will be held, a crowd is expected to flock to the scene. "Last night we had to turn away customers and throw away the ready-made dough," they say at the Tam Tam pizzeria, "and we have a ton of orders for tonight and still haven't been able to prepare the dough, which we usually do at 9 a.m. This is a huge blow for us, especially today when there's a festival in Piazza Azuni that will draw a crowd, and then there are those who have booked to take their pizzas home to watch the game."

The same problem occurred at the nearby Bar Imperial, where owner Marcello Paulis said: "I can't yet quantify the damage, but it's very extensive. Without power since yesterday, the losses are enormous."

The dental office hung a sign: "We apologize for the inconvenience but we cannot open without electricity."

Protests also spilled over onto social media, where residents described the nightmare of being without electricity for hours, "amid enormous inconvenience, in excruciating heat. And forced to throw away everything in the fridge."

This morning, Enel teams were at work in the substation on Via Marconi to try to resolve the fault.