In 2023, Italy experienced one of the hottest years in the last 150 years, second only to 2022. The average and maximum temperatures reached new records with October recording temperatures more than 3°C higher than the 1991-2021 average, marking the highest value since 1961. During the summer, intense heatwaves affected the country, with record temperatures of 48.2°C recorded on July 24 in Jerzu and Lotzorai in Sardinia, and 41.2°C in Rome in early August. Drought continued to be a significant problem, with Northern and Central Italy experiencing severe drought conditions in the first four months of the year, which later eased. However, in the last three months of the year, Sicily and parts of Ionian Calabria suffered from extreme drought with a significant precipitation deficit.
Extreme weather events affected several regions, causing severe damage. In May, Emilia-Romagna was devastated by two exceptional rainfall events, leading to flooding, landslides, and 17 fatalities. On November 2, heavy thunderstorms in Tuscany caused flooding and 8 deaths, with exceptional rainfall recorded in the provinces of Pisa, Livorno, Pistoia, and Prato.
In summary, 2023 was characterized by record temperatures, persistent drought, and extreme weather events that had a significant impact on various italian regions.

The indicator provides information about the landslide number and distribution in Italy. The recorded landslides exceed 635,000 (reference period 1116-2024) and affect an area of 25,004 km², accounting for 8.3% of the national territory.

The indicator provides information about the major landslide events caused fatalities, injuries, evacuations, damage to buildings, cultural heritage, and primary linear communication infrastructure or service networks in the national territory in the past year. The major landslide events occurred in 2023 were 192, with 11 deaths, 24 injuries, and damage mainly to the road network and buildings.

In 2022, Italy's primary environmental expenditure increased by 163% compared to 2021, reflecting a greater political interest in environmental issues. However, the share of key sectors (biodiversity and landscape protection, forest and wildlife management) in total environmental spending declined from 9.1% to 4.2%.

Despite the increase in available resources, spending capacity varies across sectors, with efficiency rates ranging from 88.5% for biodiversity to 69.1% for forest management. This trend highlights the need to optimize investments to ensure the protection of natural heritage, in alignment with the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda.

The indicator describes the seismic events that occurred in the reference year within the Italian territory, based on the Magnitudes recorded by the National Seismic Network (Rete Sismica Nazionale) of INGV. In 2023, no seismic event was destructive in Italy. Only one event exceeded Magnitude 5, but it had a very deep hypocenter, preventing any surface effects. Furthermore, 19 events with Magnitude between 4 and 4.9 occurred. The strongest earthquake, with a Magnitude of Mw 4.9, occurred near Marradi (FI). The number of earthquakes with Magnitude 2 or higher that occurred in 2023, concentrated mainly along the Apennine Range, the eastern Alps, and eastern Sicily, is comparable to the number of similar events in the previous four years.

This indicator quantifies soil consumption within specific distances from the coastline and tracks its temporal evolution. Nearly a quarter of the land within 300 meters of the coast has been urbanized, while 19% of the area between 300 and 1,000 meters and 8.7% of the area between 1 and 10 km have been affected. In comparison, only 6.5% of the rest of the territory has undergone soil consumption.

The indicator is defined by the number of volcanic eruptions that have had significant effects in terms of interference with human activities over the course of the year. Regarding the reference year (2023), there was continuous eruptive activity from Etna and Strombolian activity with occasional intensity peaks at Stromboli.

In 2023, the total amount of municipal waste disposed of in landfills amounted to approximately 4.6 million tonnes, with 112 landfill facilities in operation nationwide. Compared to 2022, this represents a 10.8% reduction in the total quantity of municipal waste landfilled (equivalent to -559,000 tonnes) and a 4.3% decrease in the number of operational sites (-5 facilities).

The indicator provides information regarding cultural heritage exposed to landslide and flood risk along the national territory. There are 40,256 cultural heritage sites at landslide risk, of which 13,243 are in areas with high hazard P3 and very high hazard P4. There are 35,979 cultural heritage sites at risk of flooding in the medium hazard scenario (return periods between 100 and 200 years), and up to 53,844 in the low hazard scenario, which is the maximum expected scenario.

This indicator provides an overview of the population residing in flood-prone areas (population exposed to flood risk) at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels. In Italy, the population residing in areas with high hazard/probability is 4.1% of the total national population (2,431,847 people); those exposed to medium hazard/probability are 11.5% (6,818,375 people), while the population in areas with low hazard/probability is 20.6% (12,257,427 people).

The indicator provides an estimate of the population exposed to landslide risk (personal damage risk: deaths, missing, injuries, and evacuations) on a national, regional, provincial, and municipal basis. In Italy, the population at landslide risk residing in areas with high and very high landslide hazard (P3+P4) amounts to 1,303,666 inhabitants, equal to 2.2% of the total population.