Italy heatwave: 18 cities under red alert as five deaths reported, peak expected Monday

Red alert across Italy

Italy's health ministry has kept 18 of the 27 monitored large cities under the highest level of heat alert, level 3, red, since Friday 26 June, and this status will remain in place through Sunday 28 June. The affected urban centers include Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Florence, Frosinone, Genoa, Latina, Milan, Perugia, Pescara, Rieti, Rome, Turin, Venice, Verona and Viterbo. The red alert signals emergency conditions with possible health effects on the entire population, not only on vulnerable subgroups. On Saturday 27 June, four cities, Campobasso, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo, are under the less severe orange alert (level 2), while on Sunday Cagliari and Trieste will also move to orange. The alert map leaves only Catania, Messina and Reggio Calabria at yellow (level 1) on Sunday. The heat has already disrupted public life: Palermo's courthouse suspended hearings until 29 June because of the heat and air-conditioning failures, while Florence's Uffizi Gallery extended a ticket-sales suspension until Sunday, admitting only visitors with prior bookings.

Health toll and emergency response

At least five people have lost their lives in connection with the high temperatures. The fatalities include two farmers in the Lodi and Piacenza areas, a 57-year-old construction worker near Padua who died on site despite a local ordinance prohibiting outdoor work under such conditions, a homeless man in Naples, and a man who collapsed at Garlasco cemetery. Emergency room visits across Italian big cities have risen at least 15% during this heatwave, while pediatric emergency departments nationwide have recorded an increase of 5–10%. Alberto Villani, head of general pediatrics at the Bambino Gesù children's hospital in Rome, warned:

Children are not small adults. Their organism has an immature ability to regulate body temperature and this makes them particularly vulnerable to heatwaves.

At Bambino Gesù, summer emergencies typically climb 25%, and this week is no exception. The Civil Protection has extended a heat-criticality notice for Campania, especially in Benevento and Caserta, from Saturday morning to Monday evening, with temperatures 5–6°C above seasonal averages and nighttime humidity reaching 70–80% on the coast. In Naples, the diocesan Caritas opened historic downtown churches to offer shelter, cool spaces and drinks to the homeless and other vulnerable people. In Veneto, a yellow alert for intense heat discomfort remains in place through Monday.

Anticyclone Caronte and broader European impact

The heatwave is driven by the African anticyclone Caronte, which is baking much of Western Europe. In Italy, peaks of 30–39°C are forecast for the Centre-North, with Milan expected to hit 37°C on Saturday and up to 38°C on Sunday. Beyond Italy, the event has left its mark: a child of 18 months died in Marseille, France, probably after being left in a car; in the United Kingdom, an extraordinary 6,000 lightning strikes per hour were recorded between England and Scotland. Scientists routinely link such extreme heat to the climate crisis, noting that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are making heatwaves, droughts and severe storms more frequent and more intense.

Forecast: a sharp change from July

The heat dome is forecast to begin weakening from Monday 29 June in northern Italy, with the first strong thunderstorms on the Alpine fringe. A low-pressure system loaded with cold air aloft will move from Germany toward Italy on Wednesday 1 July, triggering intense rain, hail, and violent wind gusts first over the north and then spreading to the centre-south. By Thursday, the system may develop into a cyclone in the Lower Tyrrhenian, causing a sharp temperature drop. Before that shift, however, the heatwave is expected to peak on Monday, and the number of red-alert cities could still increase.