When it rains and the sun shines, the devil is getting married. This is the Pugliese version of the widespread southern Italian saying about sun-showers. It reflects a folk cosmology in which contradictory phenomena — rain and sunshine together — signal something uncanny happening in the world.
The summer heat of Puglia is legendary — temperatures regularly exceed 40°C in July and August, and the landscape turns pale gold as every drop of moisture evaporates. When a brief rain shower falls while the sun blazes on, it is considered a meteorological anomaly so strange that only a supernatural event could explain it. In the folklore of Lecce — the Baroque jewel of the Salento, a city built almost entirely from the golden pietra leccese limestone — such moments were thought to mark liminal times when the veil between the ordinary world and the spirit world was thin. Children would run inside when told the devil was getting married, a half-superstitious, half-playful warning.
A dialect proverb widespread across the Salento peninsula, tied to Pugliese folk religion and the intense summer climate.
Children playing outside during a sun-shower
Bambini, entrate! Quannu chiove e face sole, lu diavulu se marite — è un segno strano.
Children, come inside! When it rains and the sun shines, the devil is getting married — it's a strange sign.
Two friends noticing an odd event at the same time
Guarda — piove ma c'è il sole! Come dicono i vecchi: lu diavulu se marite.
Look — it's raining but there's sun! As the old folks say: the devil is getting married.
A grandmother explaining the saying to a grandchild
Hai paura della pioggia col sole? Non ti preoccupare — quannu chiove e face sole, lu diavulu se marite, ma a te non ti fa niente.
Scared of rain in the sunshine? Don't worry — when it rains and the sun shines, the devil is getting married, but it won't hurt you.
Two neighbors chatting during odd weather
Che tempo strano oggi, piove e splende il sole insieme. Quannu chiove e face sole, lu diavulu se marite — mia nonna lo diceva sempre.
What strange weather today, it rains and the sun shines at the same time. When it rains and the sun shines, the devil is getting married — my grandmother always said it.