One of the victims was a 26-year-old woman caught up in a mini-tornado near Rome’s Fiumicino airport.
The woman was driving home at around 2:00 am on Sunday when the mini-tornado lifted her car into the air and smashed it against a railing.
The highly localised winds tore up trees and scattered debris across the area.
Further north in Bolzano, a 45-year-old Norwegian competing in a marathon in the Dolomite Mountains died in hospital on Sunday after being struck by lightning.
Meanwhile near Arezzo, south of Florence, a 70-year-old man died early on Sunday after his car got swept up in a flash flood.
Emergency services found his body in a mud-filled canal.
As the heavy rains continued throughout the night, some metro stations and houses in Rome were also flooded.
Coldiretti, Italy’s main agricultural organisation, said hail storms at the weekend had caused millions of euros worth of damage across the country, with the worst affected area around Arezzo.
Orchards, as well as fields of tobacco, sunflowers and corn were completely destroyed, the association said.
