The summer of 2026 will go down in Italian climatic history as the warmest on record since 1950, breaking the previous record set in 2003. This is supported by data from the National Research Council's Institute for Bioeconomy (CNR-IBE), which were gathered from the European database ERA5 Land of the ECMWF. Between June and August, the national average temperature two meters above ground reached 24.3°C, a substantial increase over the 23.6°C recorded in 2003. According to researcher Lorenzo Arcidiaco, temperatures have been rising steadily and unusually this year from January to August. The peak occurred in August, with an average temperature of 25.6°C, 3.5 degrees above the 1991-2020 average and higher than the previous records of 2024 (24.6°C) and 2017 (24°C). Following an already record-breaking spring, July and August were consecutively recognized as the warmest months on record. Between January and August, roughly 70% of the peninsula reported temperature anomalies greater than one degree Celsius. The northwestern lowlands and the Apennine regions were the worst hit, with significant consequences for agriculture due to excessive heat and drought. Experts now anticipate that 2026 could be the warmest year since 1950.