Authorities here said Friday that they are taking action to help tourists survive the heat wave Italy is simmering under at the moment. The Rome Civil Protection Department has started handing out bottles of water to tourists queuing outside the city's museums to stop them taking ill because of dehydration.
The department's volunteers are focusing much of their attention on the queues outside the Vatican Museum, where tourists often have long waits in fierce heat. Temperatures in Florence reached 39 degrees on Friday.
They are forecast to break the 40-degree mark in parts of the country at the weekend before relenting on Monday. The Health Ministry has set up a special phoneline - 1500 - which the public can call to request help or get information about how to combat the heat.
The ministry is particularly concerned about elderly city-dwellers, especially those who are socially isolated and have health or economic problems.
Several Italian regions have put the emergency services on maximum "heat alert". Over 250 calls for ambulances were made in Florence
alone on Friday by people who had taken a bad turn because of the weather.
The heat is not just affecting people.
Farmers' association Coldiretti said cows are producing 20% less milk - 25 litres a day, compared to the normal average of 32 - as a result of it.
Coldiretti said rice and corn crops have been badly hit by the drought the heat wave has brought with it. It estimates that the unusually hot weather has cost the agriculture sector around half a billion euros up to now. The Health Ministry is advising elderly Italians to drink lots of water, eat light food, avoid going out in the hottest hours of the day and seek medical advice at the first sign of trouble.
Parents are also being urged to be watchful with small children.
Around 20,000 deaths were recorded during a prolonged heat wave in 2003.
The Institute for Higher Health (ISS) said 97% of heat-related fatalities during that heat wave, Europe's worst in three centuries, were among people over 65 years of age.
