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WEATHER

Italian towns switch heating on early as temperatures plummet

Residents in some of Italy's coldest areas have been permitted to crank up the thermostat a week ahead of schedule amid a cold snap affecting most of the country.

Published: 8 October 2021 15:44 CEST
People in many parts of Italy are turning up the heating this week after temperatures plunged.
People in many parts of Italy are turning up the heating this week. Photo: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP

Mayors of towns including Bolzano and Campobasso have authorised residents to switch on their central heating from Friday, October 8th, a week ahead of schedule.

The mayor of the northern province of Bolzano signed an ordinance allowing heating systems in residential buildings to be switched on from Friday, as temperatures in the area plunged below seasonal averages and were forecast to drop further over the weekend, news agency Ansa reports.

READ ALSO: Rising energy prices: How to save money on your bills in Italy

Meanwhile Campobasso, a city and province located at a high altitude in the southern region of Molise, has also said residents can switch their heating on – but not for more than seven hours a day and without exceeding an indoor temperature of 20C.

In the interests of saving energy, Italy has national rules in place about when different provinces can use central heating (riscaldamento centralizzato) in residential buildings, based on their average seasonal temperature. Many areas also have maximum temperature and time limits.

As you’d expect, northern and mountainous areas are the first to be allowed to switch on the heat in October, while some parts of the south can’t turn up the dial until December.

The first switch-on is usually scheduled for October 15th in areas like Bolzano and Campobasso, which are deemed to be among the coldest parts of the country, in ‘Zone E’.

Other municipalities may yet decide to allow an early switch-on, with a wave of low pressure pushing temperatures down further in the coming days and bringing bad weather across the country.

The ‘Zone E’ designation, which means you can have your heating on from October 15th to April 15th for 14 hours a day, applies to the following provinces:

  • North-west: Alessandria; Aosta; Asti; Bergamo; Biella; Brescia; Como; Cremona; Lecco; Lodi; Milan; Novara; Padova; Pavia; Sondrio; Torino; Varese; Verbania; Vercelli.
  • North-east: Bologna; Bolzano; Ferrara; Gorizia; Modena; Parma; Piacenza; Pordenone; Ravenna; Reggio Emilia; Rimini; Rovigo; Treviso; Trieste; Udine; Venice; Verona; Vicenza.
  • Centre: Arezzo; Perugia; Frosinone; Rieti.
  • South: Campobasso; Enna; L’Aquila; Potenza.

Residents of Cuneo, Belluno and Trento, meanwhile, are in the colder ‘Zone F’, where no heating restrictions apply.

See the full list of zones here.

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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