Italian firefighters contain the Lipari fire while operations continue at the Palermo outbreak

Firefighters in Sicily have brought under control the fire declared on the small island of Lipari before they reached a locality in the area while firefighting troops in Palermo are still struggling to control the outbreak declared in the area.

Italy has been suffering for weeks from an extreme drought that has particularly affected the south of the country. Earlier this week, a fire broke out on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, forcing designer Giorgio Armani to abandon his luxury villa on the island, located halfway between Sicily and Tunisia.

In the last hours a new big fire has been declared near Sos Alinos, in the northeast of Sardinia. The flames have come within a hundred meters of homes while authorities have ordered the immediate evacuation of the area, reports ‘Unione Sarda’.

Firefighters have nevertheless managed to control this front, which has so far burned about twenty hectares of land.

The drought in the south contrasts with the intense thunderstorms declared this week in northern Italy, which have left two dead.

Meteorologists expect rain in the south of the country and in Sicily during the next week. In central and northern Italy, however, temperatures of up to 30°C are forecast.