Easter amidst bad weather warnings and hot weather in the South. Orange alert for Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Aosta Valley

Rain and snow in the mountains in the North and the hot Sahara wind in the Centre-South. Easter has split Italy in two from a meteorological point of view, offering very different postcards and even promising a worsening for Easter Monday that will force many to give up the traditional picnic. It snowed in the Dolomites at high altitudes above 1,800-1,900 metres. The largest amount of fresh snow was recorded at Re Vales, above Cortina d'Ampezzo (Belluno) with 33 centimetres, while at Monte Piana di Misurina, 10 centimetres fell. On Monte Baldo (Verona), 145 centimetres of snow were recorded, while in the Sette Comuni the record belongs to Cima XII with almost a metre and a half.

A new closure for State Road 350, which connects Veneto and Trentino. The fall of a large boulder, which occurred between the provinces of Trento and Vicenza in the municipality of Folgaria (Trento) most probably due to the rain that fell from yesterday afternoon and throughout the night, has convinced local administrators to close the road for precautionary reasons, which is now closed to traffic and pedestrians. This is the third landslide event in a few months: at the beginning of November, the state road was closed due to a massive rock collapse. After a month of consolidation work on the wall, it had been reopened for the Immaculate Conception bridge, until another landslide in mid-February, which was resolved within a few weeks. After today's rockfall, which was reported by some motorists, the fire brigade and local police arrived on the scene and then proceeded to close the '350', pending further investigations on the stability of the rock face by technicians and geologists, which should begin on Tuesday, after the Easter weekend.

A wave of bad weather has hit Valtellina and Valchiavenna since Easter morning, bringing rain on the valley floor and heavy snowfall at altitudes above 1,200 metres with temperatures below seasonal averages. In the mountain resorts of Madesimo, Livigno, Aprica and Bormio, the ski lifts were open but not very crowded due to the adverse weather including fog on the snow-covered slopes. The risk of avalanches remains high throughout the Lombardy Alps due to the failure of the new snowpack to settle. Bad weather and heavy rain also in Lombardy, with the alert rising to orange for hydrogeological risk. Throughout the province of Varese, the fire brigade was engaged in dozens of interventions. The most serious emergency was in Gavirate, where on Saturday night a sinkhole opened up due to the subsidence of the road surface five metres wide and six metres deep. Some residents living a short distance away were evacuated.

It continues to rain in Milan, where heavy thunderstorms were recorded even though the wind intensity has decreased compared to the previous day. The Seveso and Lambro rivers are under control. Seventy-four interventions during the night in the Lombard capital by the fire brigade, mostly for fallen trees and branches and damaged scaffolding as well as flooding, without involving people. The rain forecast for tomorrow, on Easter Monday, triggers an orange alert between the Modena and Reggio areas, which will be, according to the Civil Protection of Emilia Romagna, the most affected areas. For Monday, in fact, intense rainfall is expected in the Apennine areas, even in the form of thunderstorms, which could generate rapid rises in the hydrometric levels of rivers, with occupation of the expansion zones of watercourses, particularly in the central sector of the region. There is also an alert for landslides and strong winds in mountainous areas throughout the region. It is also raining in Liguria, where the yellow alert in western Liguria has been extended to eastern Liguria on the large basins from midnight until 2 p.m. tomorrow. Gale force winds and Libeccio sea storms are forecast on all the coasts.

Yellow alert in Tuscany, where showers are expected, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, where hailstorms and strong gusts of wind are also possible, in Trentino Alto Adige and Umbria, in the remaining sectors of Valle d'Aosta and over large areas of Veneto and Piedmont. In Rome, the wind has not deterred the many tourists who have chosen to spend Easter in the capital. Yesterday, due to the increase in PM10 caused by the Saharan sands, mayor Roberto Gualtieri issued an executive determination urging at-risk categories to avoid "prolonged exposure to high concentrations of pollutants". Good weather instead in the south, with the Sirocco bringing above-average temperatures. On Easter Monday, the sky will be irregularly cloudy.