With maximum temperatures forecast to hit 40–43 °C this week, the Ministry of Health’s July 13 bulletin placed Florence and Perugia on ‘red alert’ and warned that seven more cities could join by Wednesday. Under last year’s Worklimate protocol, outdoor labour—including road maintenance and construction—must cease between 12:00 and 16:00 on red-alert days. Logistics and last-mile delivery are already feeling the strain: rider collectives in Florence announced a 24-hour strike on July 15 citing unsafe conditions, while several regions are allowing haulage companies to suspend the usual summer truck-ban on state roads so that drivers can travel during cooler night hours. Airport ground-handling firms at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa have activated contingency rotas to avoid tarmac work during the hottest window, a measure that could marginally extend turnaround times. For business travellers the chief concern is cascading delays—especially on regional rail, where speed restrictions are automatically imposed when rails exceed 57 °C. Corporate travel teams should monitor Trenitalia’s ‘Infomobilità’ updates and build at least 60 minutes of buffer into same-day connections south of Bologna. In the corporate-relocation arena, HR should remind expatriates and their families of Italy’s tax credit for installing domestic cooling systems, which was extended to July 2027. Employers can reimburse air-conditioning expenses as ‘welfare-in-kind’ without triggering extra payroll tax if the equipment is installed in company-leased housing. Although the current heatwave is expected to ease by Sunday, meteorologists at CNR warn that a fourth episode could arrive in early August, making the mid-day work stop a recurring feature of the summer mobility landscape.
Source: Corriere della Sera
