Climate, 2025 is the second year with more extreme weather events in Italy. Lombardy, Sicily and Tuscany the most affected regions
Among the provinces, those of Genoa, Messina and Turin. The South is suffering this year due to the drought emergency with Sardinia, Sicily and Apulia
Key points
In Italy, even in 2025 the climate crisis will leave its mark, and it will do so in an increasingly profound manner. This is the year-end balance drawn by the City Climate Observatory of Legambiente. In the Peninsula in 2025, extreme weather events will increase to 376, +5.9% compared to 2024. 2025 thus becomes the second year with more weather events recorded in Italy, in the last 11 years, after 2023 (the latter marked by 383 extreme weather events).
Most affected Northern Italy
Floods from heavy rain (139), wind damage (86) and river flooding (37) are the main phenomena that have occurred most during the year. Also worrying is the sharp increase in cases related to record temperatures, +94% compared to last year, landslides from heavy rain, +42%, and wind damage, +28.3%. The effects of the climate crisis are also having repercussions on the territories: in 2025, northern Italy was the worst hit, followed by southern and central Italy.
More impacts in Lombardy, Sicily and Tuscany
Among the cities were Genoa (12 extreme weather events), Milan (7) and Palermo (7). At the regional level, the regions that suffered the greatest impacts from extreme weather events were: Lombardy, with 50 cases, Sicily, 45, and Tuscany with 41. At the provincial level, Genoa with 16 extreme weather events, followed by the province of Messina and Turin with 12, Florence and Treviso with 11, Milan with 10, Como, Lecce, Massa Carrara and Palermo with 9. Also of concern is the damage that extreme weather events are causing on transport: 24 were reported to have caused damage and delays to trains and local public transport in the Peninsula in 2025. Interruptions and suspensions caused not only by heavy rain, flooding and landslides due to heavy rainfall, but also by record high temperatures and strong wind gusts.
Drought Emergency in Southern Italy
The year 2025 was also marked by the now chronic drought emergency. Southern Italy, in particular northern Sardinia, Apulia and Sicily, has been hardest hit. In particular, in Sardinia's Nurra region, farms have been forced to give up many crops, compromising food production and generating severe economic repercussions. The situation was dramatic for livestock farms, with animals that risked being without water to drink as wells dried up. Companies in the sector have been forced to buy water at unsustainable costs. In September, in Sicily, the 12 mayors of the Ribera irrigation district (Ribera, Alessandria della Rocca, Bivona, Burgio, Caltabellotta, Calamonaci, Cattolica Eraclea, Cianciana, Montallegro, Lucca Sicula, Santo Stefano Quisquina and Villafranca Sicula) called for a third emergency irrigation to try to save crops, particularly the area's quality orchards, from oranges to peaches. In Apulia, the municipal council of San Severo (FG) has approved a request to declare a state of natural disaster due to the prolonged drought and high temperatures that have affected the entire Capitanata region.
