After traditional May Day picnics were cancelled amid wet and windy weather sweeping Italy on Monday, stormy conditions were forecast to continue throughout the next few days in many southern and central parts of the country.

Italy’s Department for Civil Protection on Tuesday issued a medium-level amber alert for the region of Emilia Romagna, which is set to experience exceptionally heavy rainfall, while the following nine regions were placed on a lower-level yellow alert: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, Lazio, Molise, Sicily, Puglia and Tuscany.

“An area of low pressure moving towards the southern Tyrrhenian Sea will cause widespread and persistent rainfall over Emilia-Romagna,” the Department for Civil Protection said in its weather alert issued on Tuesday, while intermittent downpours or thunderstorms could be expected “over most of the southern regions, in particular over Calabria and eastern Sicily,” it added.

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Torrential rain and strong winds were forecast throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday, with hailstones and thunderstorms expected in some areas.

Weather conditions improved on Tuesday in most parts of northern Italy following a rainy and unseasonably cool start to the week.

Strong winds overnight blew down a large tree that crashed into a parked car in Genoa, Liguria, reported Italy’s Ansa news agency.