Italy set a new heat record on Wednesday while some regions of the country are already grappling with forest fires.
In Sicily, the thermometer climbed to 48.8 degrees near Syracuse, as the regional authorities announced.
However, the record has yet to be checked by the national weather service.
The previous heat record of 48.5 degrees was also measured in 1999 in Sicily.
The hottest week so far this summer brought the southern island scorching heat of up to 47 degrees.
Temperatures between 49 and 50 degrees were predicted for the south-west of Sicily on Wednesday, and 39 to 42 degrees for the southern mainland regions of Calabria, Apulia and Campania.
The high that is causing the heat wave and is called "Lucifer" is expected to move north in the coming days and bring temperatures of around 40 degrees to Tuscany and the Lazio region in central Italy on the weekend.
The high temperatures are bad news for the fire brigade in Calabria and Sicily.
According to her own statements, she has already had 300 firefighting missions in the past few hours.
A 77-year-old man died of burns after trying to protect his herd of cattle near Reggio Calabria.
In the Madonie, a mountain range near the Sicilian capital Palermo, the flames have raged for several days and destroyed fields and buildings.
The regional president of Sicily, Nello Musumeci, declared a state of emergency for the mountain range.
In Calabria, the Aspromonte Natural Park, listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, is threatened by fire. The environmental organization WWF Italy demanded the immediate use of additional fire-fighting aircraft on Tuesday. Otherwise, the land would lose "forever a legacy of inestimable value". The holiday island of Sardinia reported 13 fires on Tuesday.