Heavy rain battered the northwestern region bordering France, causing flooding and mudslides in several places.
Three national records and one European record were broken in the space of a few hours, according to the weather site Meteo Giornale.
The town of Rossiglione saw 74 centimetres of rain in 12 hours, marking the greatest 12-hour rainfall on record in Europe.
To put it into perspective, it would take London an average of 15 months to tally such rainfall.
Meanwhile, the towns of Urbe and Montenotte Inferiore experienced 36.8 centimetres in three hours and 49 centimetres in six hours respectively, breaking national records.
Dozens had to be rescued across the region after reports of mudslides and flooding dotted the landscape, leading a bridge to collapse in the town of Quiliano, according to Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The country as a whole was hit by 20 severe weather events in one day on Monday, including tornadoes, hailstorms, windstorms, and torrential rainfall that caused damage to cities and countryside across the peninsula, with the northwest particularly badly affected, according to the agriculture industry association Coldiretti.
“[The storms] devastated fields, pastures, stables and agricultural vehicles as well as blocking roads and causing landslides in the countryside,” the association said in a press release published on Tuesday.
The group estimated that Italy’s agricultural industry has lost €2 billion so far this year as a result of extreme weather events, and called for immediate action on the climate crisis.
At a conference in Milan on Thursday, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged delegates due to attend the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow at the end of this month to bring their emissions plans in line with a 1.5°C pathway.
“This means that they must commit to net-zero by mid-century, with ambitious 2030 targets, and clear plans to achieve them,” he said.
Guterres also called on developed nations at COP26 to follow through on their promise to deliver $100 billion each year to countries already bearing the brunt of climate disasters.
