Extreme weather cost Italy's farms €3bn, survey finds

Extreme weather has cost Italy's agricultural sector an estimated €3 billion this year, according to reports, as the country's farmers contend with a summer of record heat, drought and violent storms.

The figure, reported by The Local Italy on Thursday, underscores the mounting toll on a sector already strained by disease and climate stress. The losses come as central and southern Italy brace for another late-summer heatwave, with temperatures approaching 42C in some areas, while the north faces thunderstorms.

For Puglia, the numbers carry particular weight. The region's olive groves, still recovering from years of Xylella infection, and its expanding vineyards are among the most exposed to the kind of extreme heat that has marked this summer across the Mediterranean.