Most of the shops in the heart of Florence reeked of drains last week, after days of torrential rain in the wake of a spectacular storm that turned the city into a dramatic stage, lit by lightening and accompanied by the thunderous roll of kettle drums. As medieval waste pipes struggled to cope, even its upmarket boutiques and stores were a little unsavoury, so the odour sullying Edison's, one of the city's most popular bookshops, was nothing new. It was the shelves of cut-price books and empty stands that told their own story, as did the air of subdued crisis as staff sold the remnants of a once fine shop.