The snow is no longer news, but unfortunately what is still news is the inconvenience it is causing throughout Italy, from North to South. maximum alert level day.
TRAINS – Heavy inconvenience throughout Northern Italy, especially in Emilia, Liguria and Piedmont where there are hundreds of delays and cancellations. Despite all the assurances of Trenitalia, the Liguria Region has decided to report Rfi and Trenitalia to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Genoa for the inefficiency of railway transport and the inconveniences that users suffered in particular on Wednesday. Problems even for high speed: a Frecciarossa train on the Milan-Naples line was blocked in the morning at Reggio Emilia due to ice.
SCHOOLS – Problems for schools too. In Rome, Mayor Alemanno has opted to suspend lessons on Friday and Saturday due to the risk of snow (even if for now the weather is holding on the Capital); in Siena and Livorno it was decided to close schools throughout the municipal area on Friday, while in Arezzo and Frosinone schools were also closed on Saturday.
PLANES - At Linate, the Sea company planned the cancellation of 19 flights, 14 departing from Milan and 4 arriving. The objective of this preventive intervention is to limit possible congestion due to aircraft de-icing procedures. However, Malpensa and Linate airports remain operational. The SEA communicates that the snow task force worked throughout the night and that at the moment there are simply "normal slowdowns" in operations. 20 centimeters of snow fell on the Lombard capital during the night, and the cold temperatures even caused cracks on the floor of the Gallery in Piazza Duomo. In Bologna however, after Wednesday's paralysis (117 flights cancelled), the "special team" worked all night to clear the runways of snow, even though no take-offs were scheduled until the early afternoon. And instead Turin Caselle airport is fully operational.
HIGHWAYS – On the other hand, the situation on the motorways improves, where however, the circulation of vehicles exceeding 7,5 tonnes remains prohibited in the Marche region and on the Bologna hub. The situation between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany is particularly critical, with the E45 and the Romea state road closed due to some heavy vehicles that did not respect the transit ban and ended up sideways on the roadway.
EUROPE – The death toll across Europe is dramatic: to date there are at least 90 dead from frost, half of which in Ukraine (but the count continues to rise tragically), where the temperature is -30 degrees and 20 people have been taken to relief centres. The other victims are registered in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Serbia. Difficult situation also in France, where half of the country (the eastern part) is declared in emergency code orange: -8 degrees in Paris, snow even in Marseille, in whose region 30 apartments were left without electricity. Serious difficulties on highways and for trains. Other cities: Madrid -6, Berlin -14 (expected Mondays -20), London -7, Brussels -12, Moscow -22.
FORECASTS - Unfortunately in the next few days, both in Italy and in the rest of the continent, the wave of frost will not subside, indeed temperatures will drop further between Saturday and Monday: -12 in Milan, -14 in Turin, -13 in Bologna and -6 in Rome, where it could even snow.
FOOTBALL MATCHES – Precisely for these reasons, the next day of Serie A, scheduled for the weekend, is also at risk, after 3 matches of the midweek round were postponed yesterday (on the fields of Bologna, Siena and Bergamo). Particularly under observation is Milan-Naples, which should be played on Sunday at 20.45: Galliani has asked for a referral to the Football League, De Laurentiis also agrees. Juventus-Siena is also at risk.
FERRARI – Even Ferrari was forced to cancel the presentation ceremony of the new F1 single-seater, initially scheduled for Friday at 10.30 in Maranello: the presentation will take place via the web.
