Italy on course for hottest year on record as energy bills climb

Scorching summer confirmed as warmest in decades, adding pressure on households facing rising utility costs

Italy's record heat this summer is set to make 2026 its hottest year ever, even as households brace for sharp energy price rises this autumn.

Giulia Benati · NATIONAL

Gibney's four-hour Musk portrait premieres in Venice

Venice film festival hosts epic study of the world's richest and most banal man

Alex Gibney's absorbing documentary Musk has its world premiere at the Venice film festival, piecing together a portrait of the trillionaire that takes him seriously as a threat to democracy.

Eleonora Vanzetti · CULTURE

Regata Storica's Grand Canal spectacle masks Venice's deeper shift

Annual rowing festival draws crowds to Rialto as women reshape lagoon traditions

Venice's Regata Storica filled the Grand Canal with colour, even as the city's rowing culture is being transformed by women.

Tommaso Veronese · REGIONAL

Crocodile head in luggage at Turin airport exposes smuggling routes

Man faces fine or prison after dried head of critically endangered crocodile found in bag

A dried crocodile head found in a man's luggage at Turin's Caselle airport has highlighted the illegal wildlife trade passing through Italy's airports.

Antonio Petrella · INTERNATIONAL

Italy heads for hottest year on record as scorching summer strains inland regions

CNR confirms summer 2026 as hottest in over seven decades, with autumn energy costs set to rise

Italy is on course for its hottest year on record after a summer that scientists have confirmed as the warmest in over seventy years, according to the National Research Council.

Niccolò Mariani

Energy bills set to surge this autumn, hitting Italy's poorest regions hardest

Prices at highest level since 2022 crisis as consumer groups warn of cost-of-living squeeze

Italy's energy bills are set to rise sharply this autumn, with prices reaching levels not seen since the 2022 crisis, according to consumer group Codacons.

Antonio Petrella

Italy heads for hottest year on record after scorching summer

National Research Council confirms summer 2026 as hottest in over seven decades

Italy is on course to set new temperature records in 2026 after confirming this summer as the hottest in over seven decades, the National Research Council said.

Pietro Lasorsa

Italy on course for hottest year on record after scorching summer

CNR confirms 2026 summer as hottest in over seven decades; Sicily's arid climate signals a permanent new baseline for the Mediterranean

Italy is heading for its hottest year on record, with summer 2026 confirmed as the warmest in over 70 years, according to the National Research Council.

Concetta Vassallo

Sardinia Braces for Hottest Year as Heat Fuels Island Climate Strain

Researchers say 2026 is on course to be Italy's warmest on record, with island regions most exposed

Italy is heading for its hottest year on record after a summer that broke seven-decade temperature highs, with Sardinia among the regions most exposed to the heat's impact.

Gavino Sanna

Dried Crocodile Head in Luggage Tests Italy's Wildlife Trade Controls

Man faces fine or prison after critically endangered species found at Turin airport

The seizure of a dried crocodile head at Turin's airport highlights the pressures on Italy's borders as authorities enforce international wildlife protections.

Gavino Sanna

Como renew Picchi's contract after cancer diagnosis

Italian club stands by forward Roberta Picchi as she begins breast cancer treatment

Como have renewed Roberta Picchi's contract after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the BBC reports.

Tobia Marenghi

Alpine regions brace as Italy's energy bills climb again

Prices at highest since 2022 crisis, consumer group warns

As Italy faces its most expensive energy season since the 2022 crisis, households across the country, including in alpine regions, are bracing for higher costs.

Camille Bréan

Crocodile head in luggage at Turin airport exposes wildlife trafficking risk

Man faces fine or prison after dried head of critically endangered crocodile found in bag

The Guardian reports a man under investigation after the dried head of a critically endangered crocodile was found in his luggage at Turin's Caselle airport.

Francesca Lazzari

Alpine rescue lessons linger as Matterhorn search suspended

Italian authorities call off hunt for Canadian skyrunner after a week

The suspension of the search for Kalie McCrystal in the Alps offers a stark reminder of the limits of high-mountain rescue even as attention turns to prevention.

Camille Bréan

Italy heads for hottest year on record as alpine regions feel the heat

CNR confirms scorching summer; climate trends raise questions for mountain ecosystems

Italy is on course for its hottest year on record after a summer confirmed as the warmest in over seven decades, with implications for the Alps.

Klara Hofer

Italy on course for hottest year on record, scientists say

CNR confirms summer 2026 as hottest in over seven decades, with implications for Tuscany's vineyards

Italy is heading for its hottest year on record after a scorching summer, according to the National Research Council, a trend with deep implications for Tuscany's wine and olive oil producers.

Costanza Bardi

Venice's Regatta and the Women Rewriting Its Waters

The Regata Storica celebrates tradition, but the women of Venice are quietly transforming what that tradition means.

Editorial Board

The Alps, the Heat, and the Lessons of a Changing Season

From a missing skyrunner to delayed school terms, Italy's hottest summer forces a reckoning with what the mountains and the classroom now demand.

Editorial Board