Italy tests climate-resistant wheat as pasta's future hinges on the South

In Emilia-Romagna, Italy's 'Food Valley', researchers are working on the pasta of the future by focusing on its main ingredient: wheat. France 24's report, filed this week, details how technology is being used to develop climate-resistant varieties of the grain, as the Mediterranean basin warms and drought patterns shift.

The report comes as Italy endures its fourth heatwave of the summer, with all 27 major cities placed under the highest red alert. The strain on agriculture is most acute in the South, where the same climatic pressures that are pushing researchers to develop hardier wheat are already reshaping what can be grown and where.

For Molise, the story of climate-resistant wheat is not a laboratory curiosity. Agriculture remains a core part of the region's economy, and the tratturi — the ancient transhumance routes that once carried flocks between the mountains and the sea — are a reminder that the land's use has always had to adapt to its conditions.