Thirteen regions in Italy have prohibited outdoor labor during peak daytime heat; June temperature highs have been surpassed in Spain and Portugal; and educational institutions in parts of France have shut their doors as an intense heatwave affects much of Europe.
Thousands of individuals in Turkey have been forced to leave their homes due to spreading wildfires, while the highest levels of the Eiffel Tower were inaccessible to visitors on Tuesday as Paris temperatures neared 38C (100.4F).
In northern Italy, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, two key industrial areas, declared on Tuesday a pause in outdoor work from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., following restrictions already in place across 11 other regions, from Liguria in the northwest to Calabria and Sicily in the south.
The decision followed warnings from labor organizations after a 47-year-old construction worker, Brahim Ait El Hajjam, collapsed and died while working near Bologna, Emilia-Romagna’s capital, on Monday.
In a joint statement, the CGIL Bologna and Fillea CGIL unions emphasized: “While awaiting confirmation on the exact cause of death, it is crucial, during this extreme period, to prioritize safety awareness. The ongoing climate crisis has significantly worsened conditions for daily outdoor laborers, and employers must ensure worker protection is their top concern.”
Specific measures differ by region but generally include suspending outdoor tasks at construction zones, quarries, and farms during the designated hours. Lombardy’s leader, Attilio Fontana, stated: “Our focus is safeguarding workers’ well-being, especially when temperatures become dangerously high.”
Vincenzo Colla, Emilia-Romagna’s labor official, added: “Ensuring worker safety is our duty.”
Separately, a 53-year-old woman with a known heart condition died after collapsing on a street in Palermo, Sicily, on Monday.
Near Turin, a 70-year-old man reportedly drowned at a resort as extreme heat gave way to sudden storms and flooding.
According to AFP reports, France’s railway service, SNCF, halted cross-border travel to Italy for “a minimum of several days” following severe storms on Monday.
Cogne, a town in Italy’s Aosta Valley previously hit by flooding in June last year, was isolated after a landslide.
Emergency room visits in some Italian regions have surged by 15–20% in recent days, primarily involving elderly patients experiencing dehydration.
Spain’s meteorological office, Aemet, reported in a recent update that “June 2025 exceeded all previous records” for high temperatures, averaging 23.6C—0.8C higher than the previous peak in June 2017. The month’s average was also 3.5C above the 1991–2020 norm.
The agency’s statement follows extreme weather conditions across Spain in recent days.
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