Peaks of 37°C were forecast for Florence and 35°C for Perugia on Friday, with both cities under the health ministry's highest red-level heat warning.
Benevento and Caserta, inland from Naples, faced highs of 36°C, with the heat set to intensify across much of the country over the weekend, according to weather site iLMeteo.it.
At the same time, severe storms were expected across the Alps and the central-western Po Valley, 3bmeteo reported, bringing strong winds and the possibility of hail. Isolated storms were also forecast along the Apennines and in mountainous areas of Sicily and Sardinia.
The storms were set to continue across much of northern Italy on Saturday, 3bmeteo’s Manuel Mazzoleni said, with eastern Lombardy, Veneto and northern Emilia Romagna facing intense showers and localised downpours along the northern Adriatic coast.
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On Sunday, a cooler mass of air arriving from the Balkans was set to bring further storms to the Adriatic coast, affecting the Po Delta, parts of Emilia Romagna, and later in the day Molise and Puglia, with scattered showers also appearing in the Alps.
The storms were expected to be accompanied by a "slight drop" in temperatures, Mazzoleni said, starting in the north and moving down the Adriatic coast on Sunday.
Intense heat was set to dominate the rest of the country, particularly on Italy’s western Tyrrhenian coast and the major islands, with peaks of up to 38–39°C expected in Sardinia.
Florence and Perugia were set to remain under red-level heat warnings on Saturday, with Campobasso under a medium-high orange alert, indicating a health risk to the elderly and young children.
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Most of the rest of the country was under yellow pre-alert, with Bolzano, Brescia, Genoa, Trieste, Venice and Verona in the north, as well as Naples and Cagliari in Sardinia, under a zero-risk 'green' warning.
The heatwave was expected to last "until at least July 20th”, Skytg24 reported, though according to ILMeteo.it the latest models suggest it won’t break until July 23rd at the earliest.
The peak of the heatwave was expected next week, the site said, with temperatures projected to rise to 39°C in Florence and Terni, 38°C in the Po Valley, and 43°C in inland Sardinia.
Health minister Orazio Schillaci on Thursday said the heat was a “public health emergency” and called for the creation of a national command centre.
“Decisions must be taken in good time to prevent harmful consequences for public health”, the minister said.
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