The heat has beaten Italy’s all-time record of 48.5 degrees, set in Sicily in 1999, and the 1977 record of 48 degrees at Eleusis in Greece
An anticyclone dubbed ‘Lucifer’ swept in Regional authorities in Sicily recorded temperatures of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday which is a new Italian and European record.
Recorded near Syracuse, it beat Italy’s all-time record of 48.5 degrees, set in Sicily in 1999, and the 1977 record of 48 degrees at Eleusis in Greece.
The heat has raised fears for fires. Firefighters recorded 300 interventions in the past 12 hours.
The anticyclone was forecast to send the mercury rising to 39-42 degrees elsewhere in southern Italy before sweeping northwards, with weekend temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the central regions of Tuscany and Lazio, which includes Rome.
The heat has raised fears for fires. Firefighters recorded 300 interventions in the past 12 hours.
Elsewhere in Calabria, fires threatened the Aspromonte mountain range, designated as a Unesco area of international geological significance.
The deputy head of environmental NGO WWF Italy, Dante Caserta asked for air support to quell the flames.
The Madonie mountain range, near the Sicilian capital Palermo, has also for several days been besieged by flames that have destroyed crops, animals, homes and industrial buildings. Sicily’s governor, Nello Musumeci, called for a state of emergency to be declared for the mountains.
Blazes in Sardinia are the worst fires seen in decades.
Experts have warned that climate change increases the intensity and frequency of such extreme weather events.