‘Another kind of lockdown’: Inside Europe’s hottest town changed forever by climate change

Five years on from recording the highest temperature in European history, the inhabitants of Floridia measure extreme heat not by records, but by its toll on daily life—forcing people indoors, damaging livelihoods and eroding social ties.

Reaching 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in August 2021, the Sicilian town became a stark emblem of Europe's warming climate as the continent emerged from Covid-19 restrictions.

Today, more frequent and prolonged heatwaves leave streets and piazzas deserted, prompting some locals to compare the conditions to a new kind of lockdown.

This shift is clear across the town of 20,000 near Syracuse, on Sicily's south-eastern coast. Piazza del Popolo, long the central gathering spot with its cafes, palm trees and civic buildings, now stands largely empty for much of the day.

The heat persists late into the evening, disrupting the cherished local tradition of 'pigghiari u frescu', when families bring chairs outside their homes to catch the breeze and socialise.

"It's awful because many people end up shut indoors. In a way, we are all experiencing another kind of lockdown," Floridia's culture councillor Serena Spada ⁠said.

"Even people with small children find themselves in this situation. Children cannot go to the park or play outside because, until late afternoon, ​temperatures are ⁠genuinely hostile."

On August 11, ‌2021, Sicily's Agrometeorological Information Service (SIAS) measured a temperature of 48.8 C in Monasteri, a rural district about 5 km (3 miles) from Floridia's centre. In 2024, the World Meteorological Organization certified it as the highest temperature ever recorded in continental Europe, a mark that still stands.

"As I walked, I began struggling to ‌breathe and thought: 'I could die here in the street, with no one around to help ‌me'," said resident Ugo Tomasello.

Many residents assumed the record would prove an isolated event. Instead, hot summers became the norm.

While the temperature record drew international attention, climate scientists say individual extremes are less significant than the steady rise in average temperatures.

Reuters Climate Monitor data showed Floridia reached 33.3 C (92 F) on August 12, ⁠2026, 4.1 C (7.4 F) above the average for the 1961-1990 historic norm.

"It is really the increase in average temperatures that worries us," SIAS director Luigi Pasotti said.

"We are no longer talking about extreme temperature peaks lasting one or two days, as happened in 2021. We are talking about entire weeks, even months during which temperatures remain consistently high."