The African anticyclone, which they have called “Charon”, and which is affecting a large part of the European Mediterranean, will raise temperatures in Italy to maximums that will be around 47 degrees in the coming days on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and historical records will be broken in some parts of the country.
Forecasts also point to temperatures will reach maximums never seen in Rome with up to 42 degrees, 1.3 more than the previous record registered in June of last year (40.7 degrees), although in the next few days, because today it did not exceed 37 degrees, according to the local media.
However, despite the high temperatures, the activity in the Roman streets does not slow down and the city remains packed with tourists trying to survive the heat among the bustle of the Italian capital.
“We are coping with our little water, our hat, shower and with a beer, of course!” Carmen, from Malaga (south of Spain) confessed to EFE, who is enjoying a few days of vacation in Italy.
Umbrellas, bottles of water, sun cream and patience They have become essential elements to resist the long queues to access the main tourist attractions in the capital.
This is how Alberto explains it, another Andalusian visitor who does not separate from “the cap, the fan and a lot of water” because “it is very hot”.
However, for the moment, the closure of the monuments in the most visited cities such as Rome, Florence or Venice is not foreseen.
“Tropical nights” are also expected with thermometers that will not drop below 20 degrees in large areas of the country and to which high levels of humidity will be added that will make it difficult to fall asleep.
Concern also in alpine areas, since “a true tongue of fire from Saharan extraction” will push the freezing point to 4,500 meters while at 1,500 meters of altitude maximum values of up to 28-30 degrees may be recorded.
Given the “infernal” temperatures, The Italian Ministry of Health has activated the “heat code” plan in which outpatient medical care services are reinforced to deal with the foreseeable adverse effects derived from heat, which especially affect vulnerable groups.
The anticyclone will begin to move away from Italy starting this Thursday, when temperatures in the northern half of the country will begin to drop, while in the south the heat has come to stay for the rest of July.
The heat also threatens to cause serious fires in the forest regions of the country, as has already happened in Lecce, in the Apulia region (south), where last morning the firefighters received more than 500 requests for intervention.
