The wildfires in Italy have struck several regions simultaneously over the past few days. Between the start of the year and early July 2026, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) approximately 11,566 hectares have burned across the country, more than 5,000 of which fell in June and July alone. From the coast of Sardinia to the Alps in Piedmont and down to Sicily, several fronts are currently active, with beach evacuations, road closures and visible consequences for residents and travellers alike.
Sardinia: evacuated beaches and a burning coastal forest
The most dramatic images come from the most popular holiday destination in the Mediterranean for northern Italy. On 13 July 2026, a fire broke out in the pine landscape of Monti Russu near Aglientu in the Gallura region, destroying around 20 hectares of coastal forest, as reported by L'Unione Sarda. The fire brigade cleared the beaches of Litarroni and Naracu Nieddu, provincial road 90 between Castelsardo and Santa Teresa Gallura was closed for several hours, and two Canadair fire-fighting aircraft along with a Super Puma helicopter were deployed.
Fire hotspots in Italy
Source: NASA FIRMS · updated daily
What does this map show? Each dot is a thermal anomaly detected by satellite (NASA FIRMS, VIIRS 375 m and MODIS 1 km): the centre of a pixel where elevated heat was measured during the overpass. These are not officially surveyed burned areas. Clouds, smoke and the overpass times can hide fires or show them with a delay; not every anomaly is a wildfire. Dense clusters of dots reveal the affected zones but remain individual measurements. Tap a dot or hover over it for intensity and the nearest town. No guarantee is given.
As ANSA from Cagliari reports, a small holiday settlement of villas was also put at risk. The suspected cause of the fire is a faulty Enel electricity pylon next to a pumping station at the Gallura Beach Village holiday resort; the public prosecutor's office is investigating. As early as the beginning of July, the Cagliari region had experienced a similar series of fires: between Selargius and Monserrato, around 100 hectares of farmland burned in just two days, six people were evacuated as a precaution, and state roads 554 and 387 were temporarily closed.
Piedmont: "Eco-catastrophe" in Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Further north, the summer of 2026 presents a less typical fire picture. In the provinces of Turin, Vercelli, Novara and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, between 800 and 900 hectares of forest burned, according to a statement from the regional government, as reported by Sky TG24 . The Regione Piemonte described in an official statement what amounted to a genuine eco-catastrophe , with considerable damage to local biodiversity. This region lies in the immediate vicinity of Lake Maggiore, whose tourist season revolves around events such as the Stresa Festival .
According to the fire brigade, the fires were caused by lightning strikes during severe thunderstorms in the preceding days, which spread rapidly owing to persistently high temperatures, parched soil and föhn winds descending from the Alps. On 8 July, Domodossola recorded 39 degrees, while Ala di Stura, at an altitude of 1,000 metres, reached 33.5 degrees. This combination of weather conditions and ground conditions makes it clear why the fire zone of 2026 has extended into alpine areas where wildfires were previously rather the exception.
Sicily and the South: relentless fires amid temperatures above 40 degrees
Sicily and the southern regions have been battling a series of fires since June, intensified by the heatwaves of this summer. Several active fire outbreaks were reported in the provinces of Palermo and Oristano, while a fresh wave of Saharan air simultaneously pushed temperatures above 40 degrees. The current weather situation and its impact have been described in detail in our article on the third heatwave in Italy .
Historically speaking, Sicily, Calabria and Campania are the Italian regions most severely affected by wildfires. According to the latest ISPRA assessments, 71 per cent of the national wildfire area was concentrated in these three regions. The combination of Mediterranean vegetation, prolonged dry spells and strong winds such as the scirocco makes them particularly vulnerable, and the warming of the Mediterranean is further compounding this tendency.
Situation at the end of July: Calabria at the centre of the fire season
In the days around 21 July 2026, the focus of Italy's fire season shifted markedly to Calabria. According to the Vigili del Fuoco, within a period of just 36 hours there were more than 200 fire brigade call-outs for vegetation fires across all provinces of the region, with 26 running simultaneously. Particularly affected areas include the Pollino National Park, as well as Squillace Lido, Sant'Eufemia di Lamezia Terme, Cassano allo Ionio and Acri. Drawing on EFFIS/Copernicus assessments, Legambiente now speaks not of an emergency but of a structural crisis: in Calabria alone, 179 fires covering around 1,940 hectares were recorded up to mid-July, with more than 150 further fire events recorded since then.
Also Sicily is in a critical state at the end of July The entire island is on the highest alert level, with firefighters in Catania, Messina and Enna under enormous pressure and active blazes in Castronovo, Bivona and Alcamo Marina. In Agrigento, a firefighter suffered a heart attack whilst on duty. In Sardinia, fires have destroyed thousands of hectares of grazing land and crops, with livestock, beehives and fodder stocks lost. The farmers' association Coldiretti puts initial estimates at around 10 million euros, noting that the figure is likely to rise further.
New flashpoints and the fourth heatwave
In the days around 25 July 2026, the wildfire situation in Italy continued to escalate. Following according to the latest reports from the weather service 3B Meteo pine forests along the northern coast of Gallipoli in Puglia were burning over the weekend, where Tramontana winds rapidly spread the flames between Padula Bianca and Rivabella, forcing the evacuation of beach areas. In Molise, a fire between Campomarino and Termoli reached the Adriatic railway line, disrupting train services between Pescara and Foggia for several hours and requiring the evacuation of several holiday resorts. The metropolitan area of Rome was also affected: the largest fire broke out between EUR, Tor Pagnotta and Laurentina, temporarily bringing traffic on the Grande Raccordo Anulare to a standstill.
The EFFIS figures from the European Copernicus system illustrate the scale of the week: 36,600 hectares have burned in Italy since the start of the year, of which almost 19,000 burned in a single week from 14 to 21 July, well above the historical average for the years 2006 to 2025. Three additional Canadair stationed to support firefighting operations in Sicily and on the southern mainland. Meteorologists are forecasting the fourth, and potentially most intense, heatwave of the summer of 2026 for the final days of July and the beginning of August, with local peak temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, this time centred on central and northern Italy.
Gargano: tourists evacuated from beaches by boat
The most dramatic incident of recent days occurred on Sunday, 26 July 2026, on the Apulian Adriatic coast. Late in the morning, a wildfire broke out in the rural area of Pile Fraballe on the outskirts of Peschici in the Province of Foggia, and, driven by strong Libeccio winds, spread within a matter of hours to the coastal coves of Zaiana and Manaccora. An extensive area of macchia mediterranea and Aleppo pines was affected; the column of smoke was visible for dozens of kilometres. As the flames reached the shoreline itself, a conventional land evacuation was not possible. The Italian Guardia Costiera , together with private excursion boats, ferried bathers from the beaches out to open water and transferred them to the port of Vieste, where Mayor Giuseppe Nobiletti had opened sports halls and public buildings as emergency accommodation.
As Il Sole 24 Ore reports, citing the Guardia Costiera,around 300 tourists were brought by boat from several campsites in Peschici to Vieste alone, with a further 200 bathers boarding directly from the beaches. In total, more than a thousand holiday villages, campsites and tourist facilities between Peschici and Vieste had to be evacuated or closed. The firefighting operation involved two helicopters and a Canadair water-bombing aircraft, as well as traffic diversions: the Litoranea (provincial road SP 52) was closed, with bus services rerouted via the state road SS 89. The mayor of Peschici, Luigi d'Arenzo, told Il Fatto Quotidianothat he was certain the fires had been set deliberately, as several outbreaks had occurred simultaneously at different locations. The president of Ferrovie del Gargano, Vincenzo Scarcia Germano, compared the destruction to the devastating fire of 2007, whose painstaking regeneration of the pine forests around Peschici had now been undone once more. No casualties were reported.
31 July: ISPRA reports 741 square kilometres of burnt land, and new fires break out near Vieste
On 31 July 2026, the Italian environmental institute ISPRA published its interim assessment of the wildfire season to date. As ANSA summarises from the ISPRA report, between 1 January and 28 July 2026 approximately 1,070 large wildfires were recorded via satellite, with a total burnt area of around 741 square kilometres, equivalent to the area of the Province of Lodi. More than 60 per cent of the affected land comprised permanent grassland, 16 per cent agricultural land, and around 14 per cent forest ecosystems, including 37 square kilometres of evergreen broadleaf woodland and 24 square kilometres of coniferous forest. The regional breakdown follows a clear pattern, with the south and the two islands as the principal flashpoints: Sicily 510 square kilometres, Calabria 78 square kilometres, Apulia 48 square kilometres, together accounting for 73 per cent of the national total.
At the same time, on the morning of 31 July new fires broke out in the Gargano and in Sardinia. As Il Fatto Quotidiano documents in its current weekend bulletin, at around 11:00 the pineta at Vieste on the Adriatic coast caught fire, whereupon Mayor Giuseppe Nobiletti travelled directly to the scene to oversee firefighting operations. Further inland, around twenty people were evacuated from an agriturismo in the Bosco di San Marco in Lamis in the Province of Foggia. In Sardinia, two fires broke out, one in Padru in the Gallura and another in Pimentel in the south of the island. For the coming weekend, the alert level issued by the Ministry of Health is rising further: on Saturday, 19 cities are on red alert, and on Sunday 23 of the 27 monitored cities, with peak temperatures of 41 degrees. The European EFFIS warning, which flags elevated fire risk for southern and central Italy from 31 July onwards, is accordingly now in effect and is expected to remain so until mid-August.
The climate crisis as an amplifier
According to EFFIS data, 2025, with over 1.07 million hectares burnt, was the worst wildfire year in the EU since systematic recording began in 2006, and 2026's figures to date already exceed the long-term trend line. The Italian environmental authority ISPRA notes in its most recent reports that the Mediterranean is warming at roughly twice the global average rate and that the fire season in southern and central Europe is lengthening accordingly.
For travellers, this calls not for alarm but for preparation. During the summer months, it is advisable to consult the alerts issued by the Protezione Civile in Sardiniabefore planning hikes or excursions into forested areas. Those already on the ground should follow the instructions of local authorities strictly, taking road closures and beach evacuations seriously and making no attempt to pass through restricted zones. Practical advice on coping with the extreme summer temperatures themselves can be found in one of our own contribution to the heat in Italy compiled.
