Italy needs 50 billion euros of investment over 10 years to overcome the water emergency, recover water for the needs of households, agriculture and industry and boost the development of hydropower, the only programmable renewable source and a strategic asset for the country's energy security. This is what emerges from the study conducted by The European House-Ambrosetti. If 2022 was the least rainy and hottest year in the last 60 years for Italy, 2023 sees the alternation between the drought tail of 2022 and intense and highly concentrated rainfall, indicative of a tropicalization of the Italian climate. Water availability is put at risk by the effects of climate change: 28 percent of Italians have experienced water rationing in their municipality of residence. The drought impacts survey shows, on the one hand, how it is possible to recover 9.5 billion cubic meters of water (more than one-third of that consumed in a year) by investing in reuse, leakage and consumption reduction, and rainwater recovery; on the other hand, the study lists actions to obtain additional hydropower by investing in pumping, irrigated reservoirs, repowering, mini-hydro, and new power plants.