Nearly 500 wildfires scorched roughly 9,545 hectares of Italian land between January and mid-June 2026, an area equivalent to more than 13,000 football pitches and a 36.3% increase over the same period last year, according to Legambiente's "Italy in Smoke 2026" report released on Wednesday.
Sicily bore the heaviest toll with 4,769 hectares burned across 175 fires, followed by Calabria at 1,543 hectares and Campania at 715. Significant damage also struck naturalistic zones: 1,800 hectares within Sicily's Natura 2000 protected sites were lost, while Tuscany, Campania and Calabria each saw roughly 800 hectares of protected areas burn. By 8 July, the total scorched area had climbed to 12,590 hectares — 26% above the 2006–2025 average.
Legambiente has submitted 14 prevention proposals to the Italian government to address what the group describes as an escalating threat.