A partial solar eclipse will cross Italy on Wednesday, with the northern and central regions offering the most dramatic views as the moon obscures more than 90 percent of the sun's disk in areas including Liguria, Piedmont, Tuscany, and Ventimiglia. The eclipse will be total in Spain, where towns such as Santo Domingo de la Calzada lie in the path of totality.
Italian interest in the event has doubled over the past week, according to Google Trends data, with searches for camera filters jumping 490 percent and telephoto lens inquiries rising 250 percent year-on-year. Viareggio, Lucca, and Genoa are the cities showing the highest online curiosity.
Observation events are planned across the country. In Trieste, the Circolo Culturale Astrofili Trieste is hosting a viewing at San Giusto Castle, while near Bologna, astronomers from the National Institute of Astrophysics will guide observations at a Pianoro velodrome before streaming the total eclipse live from Spain. The celestial display coincides with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower overnight.