308 Italian coastal municipalities hit by 1,073 extreme weather events since 2010, storm surges up 550% in five years

A new report from Italian environmental association Legambiente and the Città Clima Observatory documents a sharp, sustained rise in extreme weather battering Italy's coastline. Between 2010 and 2026, 308 of the country's 643 coastal municipalities (48%) were hit by 1,073 extreme weather events, accounting for 38.6% of the 2,778 such events recorded nationwide over the same period. The figures show a steepening trajectory: by 2025 the share of affected municipalities stood at 45.4% (with 1,028 events), by 2024 it was 41.2% (885 events), and in 2023 it was 37.3% (780 events).

The most frequent events over the 16-year window were flooding from intense rainfall (404 incidents), tornadoes and waterspouts (286), and storm surges (107). Legambiente flags the recent intensification of coastal storms and high winds, noting that storm surges jumped 550% and wind gusts rose 80% in the five years from 2022 to 2026.

Regional breakdown

The south of Italy has borne the heaviest burden. Sicily leads with 232 extreme weather events, followed by Apulia (136) and Calabria (104). Liguria (99), Lazio (88), and Campania (88) round out the top tier. Tuscany also recorded 88 events, with a near-doubling over the last three years alone. At the municipal level, Genoa suffered the most with 50 events, followed by Bari (44), Palermo (38), Agrigento (35), and Naples (27). Rome's coastal district of Ostia registered 12 events, placing it 11th, while Cesenatico on the Emilia-Romagna coast came in 14th.

The Sicilian city of Palermo saw the impact of Cyclone Harry, which struck the Ionian coast of Sicily in January 2026. Luca Bittau of the Sardinian association SEA ME Sardinia, speaking after the storm hit the island of La Maddalena, described its unusual trajectory.

There have been many storms from the northwest, west, and southeast in recent years, but I honestly cannot remember one from the east like this.

Erosion and lost beaches

The climate-driven battering compounds a longer-term erosion crisis. ISPRA data cited in the report show that more than 40 million square metres of beach have disappeared along Italian shores over the past 50 years, with the loss of important ecosystems. In Tuscany alone, 13.8% of the mainland coastline (40 km out of 289 km) is in a state of active erosion, measured between 2006 and 2020.

Beach access and water quality

Legambiente also flags problems around beach concessions and water quality. In many municipalities, the only areas not under private concession are located near river mouths, ditches, or sewage outfalls where bathing is prohibited due to pollution. Tuscany has 8.6 km of low-lying coastal strips classed as abandoned, corresponding to watercourse outlets. The report argues that free beaches should not be relegated to what it calls "Serie B" coastline: users deserve monitored, swimmable stretches, as already happens at Lido di Camaiore in Lucca.

Call for a national coastal adaptation plan

Legambiente says Italy still lacks a national plan specifically for coastal adaptation to the climate crisis, a gap it considers urgent to close alongside allocating resources to implement the broader National Climate Change Adaptation Plan. The report also calls for a law against land consumption and for renaturalisation of coastlines through the restoration of dune belts, wetlands, and marsh areas.

The data from our new 'Spiagge' report show the urgency and importance of implementing adaptation plans and governance tools that reduce the risk for people, homes, and infrastructure, and make it possible to programme interventions aimed at improving land management.