Men are always hot, women are always cold, so goes the adage. Yet curiously, the latter has all manner of summer-appropriate apparel to combat the heat, while the former seems to have a harder time of it. Shorts at the office? Still a no-no for most. Open-toe footwear? Also risky territory, particularly if you’ve got the sort of pasty unpedicured feet that don’t seen the light of day for 11 months of the year.

When the heat does reach a crescendo, your first instinct might be to strip off your layers, but there are certain occasions that require dressing with a bit more decorum – a wedding in Tuscany, a race meet in Berkshire, or just that Monday morning pitch meeting after a sweltering commute on the Central Line. So, what’s a chap to do? We looked to the streets for some pointers and specifically, those of Florence during the biannual menswear tradeshow, Pitti Uomo – which, this June, was brimming with men who nailed summer tailoring without breaking a sweat.