Italy's heatwave red alert reaches Molise's aging interior

Italy is placing nearly all of its major cities under the highest alert for heat from Monday, as a fresh heatwave grips the country, authorities said on Saturday, according to The Local Italy. Some 19 major Italian cities — including Rome, Milan and Naples — are already on red alert, and by Monday all but two will be, the BBC reported.

The alert, which signals a health risk for the general population, comes as fire weather across the EU has broken records for severity for this time of year, data shows, with hot, dry and windy conditions 43% more severe than the average over the last 20 years, according to the Guardian.

For Molise, a region of roughly 289,000 people with a continental inland climate, the heatwave poses a particular threat to its elderly residents, many of whom live alone in small, isolated villages that foreign coverage has long highlighted as emblematic of Italy's depopulation crisis.