Italian cities are turning into literal thermal traps. Sounding the alarm is the latest report by Greenpeace Italy, titled "The Scorching Summer," which is based on scientific data provided by Istat researchers. The study highlights a highly symbolic metric: the share of summer days when the average perceived temperature exceeds the critical threshold of 32°C - beyond which the human body enters a state of severe heat stress - has surged from 39% in the 1991-2000 decade to a worrying 62% in the 2021-2025 period, with Puglia, Sicily, Basilicata, Emilia-Romagna, and Lombardia topping the list of the hardest-hit regions last summer.
The analysis focuses deeply on the phenomenon of "urban heat islands," caused by excessive overbuilding, asphalt, and a lack of green spaces and ventilation. Data on the physical temperature of urban surfaces (walls, roofs, and roads) depict an unlivable scenario: ten out of twenty regional capitals exceeded an average maximum surface temperature of 40°C, with peaks surpassing 44°C in Rome, Turin, and Cagliari. The most extreme case was recorded in Turin, where the thermal gap between the urban center and the surrounding countryside exceeded 15°C.
The consequences for public health are severe. Approximately 8.2 million people in regional capitals (87% of the urban population) live in neighborhoods where surface temperatures consistently exceed 40°C. Among those exposed to this high risk are over 283,000 children under the age of 5 and 1.1 million elderly individuals over 74, extremely vulnerable categories that are joined by the homeless and outdoor laborers.