The heat wave that hits Sicily is the cause of a new heat record: 48.5 degrees recorded Wednesday in the region of Syracuse, Sicily.

The "Lucifer" anticyclone, at the origin of this heat wave, should now move towards the north of the peninsula and hit Lazio and Tuscany.

A heat wave carried by the anticyclone "Lucifer" hit Italy this week, which on Wednesday recorded a record temperature of 48.8 degrees in Sicily in the Syracuse region.

The peninsula is currently facing its hottest week of summer, and if national meteorology confirms data from the Sicily region, it will be the highest temperature ever recorded in Italy.

The previous record dated from 1999 with 48.5 degrees, still in Sicily.

Forest fires 

In Calabria, the Italian tip of the Boot, and in Sicily, firefighters had to carry out 300 interventions in 12 hours, and seven Canadair have been mobilized since dawn, firefighters announced. A 77-year-old man died Wednesday from burns received while trying to shelter his herd in the countryside near Reggio Calabria. The Madonie, a mountainous area near the Sicilian capital Palermo, have been besieged for several days by flames, fed by wind and heat, which destroy crops, homes and industrial buildings.

The governor of Sicily Nello Musumeci has called for a state of national emergency to be declared for the Madonie.

Agriculture Minister Stefano Patuanelli visited the site on Wednesday and promised "aid that we must give to those who have lost everything".

Hot weather expected in northern Italy

In the coming days, the anticyclone responsible for the heat wave overwhelming Italy, aptly named Lucifer, is expected to move north, where temperatures are expected to reach 39-40 degrees in Tuscany for the weekend of August 15. (center) and in Lazio (Rome region). In Rome on Wednesday, the tourists did not seem too bothered by the heat: "I knew it would be hot, but I like it. It doesn't bother me (...) It is the goal of the summer of 'to be hot and sweaty and enjoy it! ", a 20-year-old French tourist, Nora Vert, met near a fountain in the Place d'Espagne, told AFPTV.