Italy has finally received some much-needed rain but it has been accompanied by hail and flooding which have destroyed fruit and vegetable crops, the Coldiretti farmers' union said on Monday.
The areas most seriously hit by the bad weather have been the northern regions of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Reggio Emilia, while the storm front is now heading south and major flooding is reported in the southern regions of Puglia and Calabria.
The damage to crops has been particularly severe, Coldiretti explained, because "after the hottest winter in the past 200 years, many crops were maturing far ahead of schedule and were destroyed before they could be harvested".
Coldiretti said this was true for such products as peaches, pears, apples, kiwi, tangerines, barley, corn and other grains.
