Rome broke its 1782 historic record on June 10, reaching 34.8 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), with an average 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) compared to 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) last year.

Neither has the usually temperate north been spared, with the city of Turin reaching a June historic average high of 27 degrees Celsius (81 Fahrenheit), not experienced there in June since 1753.

"The month of June has been a secondary phenomenon in terms of climate development, but all these little variations are nevertheless significant," said Colonel Massimo Capaldo of the met bureau, which is run by the air force.

Italy's average mean temperature in the last decade had risen by a half a degree Celsius compared to the preceding 30 years, he said.

The rainfall pattern had likewise changed: "There are fewer rainy days but they are more intense," the official explained.

It would not be exaggerated to speak of a "tropicalisation" of Italy's climate, Capaldo suggested.

"It's a term we have been using since the beginning of the 1990s," said Giampiero Maracchi, head of Florence's Institute of Bioclimatology.

"That doesn't mean we can grow bananas or pineapples in Florence," he told AFP: "But if things go on this way, we might yet be able to."

TERRA.WIRE