The World Meteorological Organisation confirmed the recording of 48,8 degrees in the Sicilian city of Syracuse on 11 August 2021: it is the highest temperature ever registered in continental Europe

Italy's contracts with Israeli spyware company Paragon have been terminated; revelations that the surveillance technology was used against critics of the government, journalists and migrant rescue workers, prompted uproar and calls for full investigation

Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, erupted with a spectacular pyroclastic flow - an avalanche of hot lava blocks, ash, gas and volcanic material; the activity may have started following a collapse of material in South-East crater

A bar in Treviso, Veneto, has decided to put a 1 euro fee on every blasphemy to fund charitable projects; blasphemy - annoying for most Italian even if not religious and formally banned by law - is on a growing trend among youn generations

A huge snowfall whitened the Alps, by far the biggest of the 24-25 season, with the avalanche danger at a rare maximum 5 out 5 in area of the Western Alps; the snowfall is a good news for glaciers and snowpack before the arrival of summer