Italy putting nearly all major cities on highest heat alert — SkimNews
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- Italy's health ministry placed 19 major cities on the highest "red" heat alert on Saturday, and expects 25 of the country's 27 major cities to reach red alert by Monday.
- Cities on red alert span north to south and include Rome, Milan, Venice, and Naples, with temperatures hitting the mid-30s Celsius on Saturday.
- Only Reggio Calabria and Messina are expected to stay on the second-highest "amber" alert, while the ministry urged residents to avoid sun exposure between 11:00 and 18:00.
- Authorities warned of risks to even healthy and active people, not just the elderly, very young children, and those with chronic illnesses.
- The heatwave is driven by a subtropical anticyclone from North Africa that is strengthening over the Mediterranean, according to the ministry.
- Across Europe, the same heat pattern is fueling wildfires: France evacuated 2,500 people in the Var region after a contained blaze reignited, while Spain has seen over 200,000 hectares burn in 2026 — roughly five times its average for this point in the year, per EU data.
- The Copernicus Climate Change Service says Europe is the fastest-warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average.
- In Greece, hundreds of mostly tourists were evacuated by sea from the coastal town of Viotia, hemmed in by wildfires.
Why it matters: Italy is now treating extreme heat as a danger to the general population — not just vulnerable groups — with 25 of 27 major cities on red alert and temperatures in the mid-30s Celsius. The same heatwave driving Italy's alert has already forced evacuations across France, Greece, and Spain, where 200,000+ hectares have burned in Spain alone — five times its year-to-date average. With Europe warming twice as fast as the global average, the simultaneous heat-and-fire crisis across multiple countries signals a strain on emergency response capacity that exceeds seasonal norms.
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