Extreme weather events in Italy rose 22% in 2023, the hottest year on record, according to ANSA.

Insurance damage reached six billion euros, the environmental group said, but very few homes or small business have such insurance, it noted.

There were 378 extreme weather events last year, the group said, more than one a day. Floods and river breaks were 170% up on 2022, record temperatures in urban areas up 150%, landslides after torrential rain up 64%, coastal sea surges up 44%, hail damage up 34.5% and building flooding up 12.4%. The north of Italy was the most struck with 210 events, followed by the centre with 98 and the south with 70.

Among the most struck cities were Rome, Milan, Fiumicino, Palermo and Prato.

At a regional level, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna had the most events in 2023, 62 and 59, followed by Tuscany with 44, Lazio with 30, Piedmont on 27, Veneto with 24 and Sicily on 21. Some 31 people died in extreme weather events last year.

Farm group Coldiretti calculated some six billion euros in damage just for agriculture.