Red Alert Heatwave Tests Puglia's Crops and Coastal Tourism

Italy is to place all of its 27 major cities, from Trieste in the north to Palermo in the south, under the highest heat alert as the fourth heatwave to hit the country this summer intensifies, according to the Guardian.

The red alert comes as temperatures in some areas edge close to 40C, the Guardian reported on Wednesday. The measure covers every major urban centre, an unprecedented sweep that reflects the persistence of a summer that has already brought repeated heat emergencies.

For Puglia, the alert is more than a matter of city comfort. The region's interior, where olive groves and wheat fields stretch toward the Murge plateau, faces the same scorching conditions that have defined this summer across the Italian south.