Italy faces third summer heat wave with health risks and temperatures reaching 42°C in Sardinia.

Italy is experiencing its third heat wave of the summer, and doctors are warning of increasing health risks for the general population, not just the most vulnerable groups. Florence and Perugia have reached their fourth consecutive day of extreme heat. maximum red alert According to the Ministry of Health, this is the most serious level. Bologna, Bolzano, Frosinone, Rieti, Rome, and Turin are on orange alert, the second highest level.

The peak is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday, when a mass of hot, humid air coming from the Sahara should cover most of the peninsula. Rome and Florence are expected to reach 39°C. In the interior of Sardinia, meteorologist Mattia Gussoni, from iLMeteo.it, predicts temperatures above 42°C.

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Cumulative effects worry experts.

“We are experiencing a season marked by extreme and persistent events,” said Gussoni, citing Copernicus data showing exceptionally high temperatures across Europe in June.

For doctors, the biggest problem is the sequence of events. "This heat wave is hitting a population that has already experienced two intense periods of heat in recent weeks, and the effects are cumulative," warned Fabrizio Pregliasco, professor of preventive medicine at the University of Milan. Ansa reported that the heat is expected to last at least 15 days, with relief expected only around July 25th.

Fires and drownings

The heat increased the risk of forest firesSardinia's civil protection agency maintained a maximum fire alert for Cagliari and other regions. In Palermo, the Fire Department responded to 33 incidents in 24 hours. Tuscany and Piedmont are also on alert.

On Sunday, two men drowned in rivers in Lombardy. A 59-year-old man died in the Ticino River, near Milan, and a 28-year-old man died in the Oglio River, in Brescia.

A heatwave is spreading across Europe. In France, a forest fire in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, destroyed 800 hectares and forced evacuations. In Spain, the death of a 93-year-old British woman raised the death toll from a fire in the province of Almeria to 13, with 23 people still missing.