Rome and Milan took most of the heat as Italy's cities sweltered, data shows

ROME (Reuters) - Rome and Milan bore the brunt of rising temperatures as Italy's largest cities endured the warmest weather in more than 50 years in 2022, statistics agency Istat said on Tuesday, in its contribution to mounting evidence of climate change.

Istat said it was releasing 2022 numbers only on Tuesday because they had taken time to process.

They are likely to be cooler than this year's figures as the European Union's climate change monitoring service said last month this year's summer had been the warmest northern hemisphere summer since records began.

Italy, especially the south, has been at the forefront. Europe's highest temperature yet of 48.8 degrees was registered in Sicily in 2021.

The average temperature in Italian regional capitals in 2022 was 16.6 degrees Celsius (61.88°F), 1.7 degrees higher than what Istat refers to as "climate normal," based on figures collected over decades, for the 1981-2010 period.

Since 1997, temperatures had been above the referenced "climate normal" in every year apart from 2005 and 2010, with the 2022 value the highest yet, the agency said.

Rome and Milan, Italy's most populated cities, had the biggest climate anomalies in 2022, with temperatures of 2.7 degrees and 2.5 degrees higher respectively, Istat added.

It also said 2022 was the second driest year for regional capitals since 1971, with average rainfall of 576 millimetres (22.68 inches). Over the period, only 2007 had less rain.

Droughts linked to climate change are increasingly serious in Italy, with Sicily this year battling with severe water shortages.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli, editing by Barbara Lewis)