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WILDFIRES

MAP: Where are wildfires raging in Italy?

Hundreds of people have been evacuated as extreme temperatures fuel wildfires across Italy. Here’s where the blazes are currently causing the most damage.

Published: 8 August 2022 15:20 CEST
MAP: Where are wildfires raging in Italy?
Firefighters are working to put out wildfires across southern Italy and in parts of the north on Monday. Photo by Federico SCOPPA / AFP

**NOTE: This article was published in 2022 and it is no longer being updated. See the latest news here.**

Wildfires have caused devastation in many parts of Europe this summer, and Italy is no exception.

READ ALSO: Italian wildfires ‘three times worse’ than average as heatwave continues

The Italian fire brigade was called out to almost 33,000 forest or brush fires between June 15th and July 21st, with blazes reported everywhere from Puglia to Trentino-Alto Adige and Abruzzo to Sicily.

As exceptionally hot and dry conditions persist into August, yet more fires broke out over the weekend causing devastation up and down the country.

Here’s a look at the areas worst affected at the moment.

All active fires in Italy on Monday, August 8th. Map: European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Savona, Liguria (North-west)

Some 120 people were evacuated on Monday as a wildfire raged near Savona amid sweltering midsummer heat.

The fire burned through woodland in the area of Arnasco and Villanova d’Albenga over the weekend before intensifying.

The situation became critical overnight on Sunday, with several homes catching fire in Villanova d’Albenga, reported news agency Ansa.

More homes were at risk on Monday, firefighters said, particularly in the Borgo Verde and Coasco neighborhoods.

Helicopters and several Canadair planes were assisting fire crews on the ground on Monday.

Sicily (South-west)

“Half the island is burning,” read headlines in local Sicilian media on Monday, as firefighters were reportedly struggling to attend all the blazes reported across the island.

Sicily has been hit by the largest number of fires overall this summer, according to the national fire brigade.

In the provinces of Palermo, Ragusa, Messina, and beyond “a succession of fires are destroying hectares of woods and vegetation”, reports local newspaper La Sicilia, which added that many fires were believed to have been started deliberately.

READ ALSO: Italy is burning – but many wildfires could be prevented

A major fire on Monte Giancaldo, a mountain overlooking the city of Palermo, burned throughout Sunday night and into Monday, but fortunately didn’t reach residential areas.

No deaths or major incidents were reported, but the risk of fire damage to homes and land is ever-present on the island, where temperatures remain among the hottest in Italy.

Puglia (South-east)

Another part of Italy badly affected by wildfires this summer, like every year; in Puglia, firefighters were battling more than a dozen blazes on Monday.

These included two fires that burned 50 hectares of woodland in the Foggia area, and a blaze stretching for more than a kilometre in scrubland near the coast between Tricase Porto and Marina di Andrano, an area popular with holidaymakers.

Several houses in the area were evacuated on Sunday, while the Tricase-Andrano road was closed to traffic as fire crews battled the flames with assistance from Canadair planes.

As is the case in Italy every year, the most fires were reported in the hotter, drier southern regions.

READ ALSO: Will summer 2022 be Italy’s hottest ever?

Sicily has recorded the highest number of wildfires this summer, with firefighters called out 6,534 times so far according to fire brigade statistics.

Other regions worst affected were Puglia (5,134), Lazio (4,799), Calabria (3,195), Campania (2,730) and Tuscany (1,529

While prolonged hot and dry conditions make wildfires more likely – and more severe – the vast majority of such blazes in Italy are believed to be caused by human actions, and six in ten are started deliberately according to Coldiretti, Italy’s national farmers’ union.

Italy has registered at least three wildfires a day since the start of July, data from EFFIS shows.

Member comments

  1. Massarosa is west of Lucca – not east. It’s the commune between Lucca and Viareggio. At daylight today (21st) the Canadairs are still active on the fires above Massarosa

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CLIMATE CRISIS

‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

World wine production dropped 10 percent last year, the biggest fall in more than six decades, because of "extreme" climate changes, the body that monitors the trade said on Thursday.

Published: 26 April 2024 08:48 CEST
'Extreme' climate blamed for world's worst wine harvest in 62 years

“Extreme environmental conditions” including droughts, fires and other problems with climate were mostly to blame for the drastic fall, said the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) that covers nearly 50 wine producing countries.

Australia and Italy suffered the worst, with 26 and 23 percent drops. Spain lost more than a fifth of its production. Harvests in Chile and South Africa were down by more than 10 percent.

The OIV said the global grape harvest was the worst since 1961, and worse even than its early estimates in November.

In further bad news for winemakers, customers drank three per cent less wine in 2023, the French-based intergovernmental body said.

Director John Barker highlighted “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major northern and southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”

Although he said climate problems were not solely to blame for the drastic fall, “the most important challenge that the sector faces is climate change.

“We know that the grapevine, as a long-lived plant cultivated in often vulnerable areas, is strongly affected by climate change,” he added.

France bucked the falling harvest trend, with a four percent rise, making it by far the world’s biggest wine producer.

Wine consumption last year was however at its lowest level since 1996, confirming a fall-off over the last five years, according to the figures.

The trend is partly due to price rises caused by inflation and a sharp fall in wine drinking in China – down a quarter – due to its economic slowdown.

The Portuguese, French and Italians remain the world’s biggest wine drinkers per capita.

Barker said the underlying decrease in consumption is being “driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. But given the very complicated influences on global demand at the moment,” it is difficult to know whether the fall will continue.

“What is clear is that inflation is the dominant factor affecting demand in 2023,” he said.

Land given over to growing grapes to eat or for wine fell for the third consecutive year to 7.2 million hectares (17.7 million acres).

But India became one of the global top 10 grape producers for the first time with a three percent rise in the size of its vineyards.

France, however, has been pruning its vineyards back slightly, with its government paying winemakers to pull up vines or to distil their grapes.

The collapse of the Italian harvest to its lowest level since 1950 does not necessarily mean there will be a similar contraction there, said Barker.

Between floods and hailstones, and damp weather causing mildew in the centre and south of the country, the fall was “clearly linked to meteorological conditions”, he said.

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