The climate is changing, in Italy too. 2017 will indeed be remembered for a number of records, all unwelcome: the driest year and one of the hottest. This is confirmed by data processed by Isac-Cnr (Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate), which show that 2017 was the driest year in 200 years.

"With November," writes the CNR in a statement, "the meteorological year 2017 comes to a close. From a thermometric standpoint, 2017 recorded, for Italy, an anomaly of +1.3°C above the mean of the conventional reference period 1971–2000, ending as the fourth hottest year since 1800 to date, on a par with 2001, 2007 and 2016."

A trend that is now being recorded at a global level, then, without overlooking our own country. "Warmer than 2017," the statement continues, "were only 2003 (with an anomaly of +1.36°C), 2014 (+1.38°C above the mean) and 2015, which remains the hottest year on record with +1.43°C above the mean of the reference period."

Drought, Italy without rain

It is perhaps one of the most visible extreme events: Italy is lacking rainfall, as confirmed by the anomaly recorded by the research centre in 2017, which "will certainly be remembered for the severe drought that characterised it. From December 2016 (the first month of meteorological year 2017) onwards, month after month almost invariably showed a deficit: with the exception of January, September and November, every other month recorded a negative figure, almost always with a deficit of more than 30 per cent and, in as many as six months, of more than 50 per cent."

A deficit below the mean of the reference period 1971–2000, which led researchers to label 2017 as "the driest year since 1800 to date. To find a comparable year one must go back to 1945 — in that year too, 9 months out of 12 were heavily below average," writes the CNR.

Agriculture the hardest hit

Coldiretti has announced that damage to crops and livestock across the countryside has been estimated at more than 2 billion euros. "Particularly dry," Coldiretti stresses, "were spring, which with 48 per cent less rainfall ranks third among seasons, and summer, which with 61 per cent less ranks fourth. The effects," Coldiretti continues, "were felt both economically and in terms of employment during the most important period for harvests. Agricultural value added collapsed by 6.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 compared with the previous year, and many seasonal work opportunities were lost."