It's always interesting to look at weather services, because the picture (no pun intended) keeps changing.
Rainfall radar - British Isles and Europe One can get that free from
www.meteox.com - does the UKMO offer near real time (say 5/10 mins delayed) version? Meteox is about 30-45 mins delayed and stops at the Alps, not covering Italy. Does the UKMO radar cover a wider area?
Lightning observations This is known as "sferics" and one can get that free from many sites, e.g.
http://www.blitzortung.de/index.php?mode=6&map=3&lang=e although I can no longer find their downloadable Java viewer (I have a copy if anybody needs it).
European synoptic charts -
colour animation or black & white printable These can be obtained free from various places
British Isles synoptic analysis As above
Visible satellite pictures As above
Infrared satellite pictures As above - how current? Cloud top temperatures can be used to estimate cloud tops, but this is useful only if very current (checked just before a flight)
Flight-level wind and temperature charts Available free
Significant weather charts The Avbrief sub service (which I subscribe to) has the SigWx, but one can also get it free from a few places.