Take the holiday exodus, assault on ferries and full flights

Days of departure for millions of Italians.

The great August exodus is underway, with the Peninsula divided in two from a meteorological point of view: if the African anticyclone continues to dominate in the South, the North quadrant is affected by a wave of bad weather that will last at least another 24 hours.

Today, red dot traffic is expected on roads and motorways.

From 7.00 to 22.00 the prohibition of transit of heavy vehicles is in force

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Bad weather on this Sunday, however, could make the operations complex for a slice of vacationers.

A new disturbance is in fact expected from France: showers and thunderstorms will continue to affect the northern regions and Tuscany, with phenomena that locally may also be particularly intense.

Based on available forecasts, the Department of Civil Protection has issued a warning of adverse weather conditions.

Yellow alert for seven regions

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Piedmont, Valle D'Aosta, Lombardy, Trentino, South Tyrol, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.

phenomena will be accompanied by showers of strong intensity, frequent electrical activity, hailstorms and strong gusts of wind.  

The most complex situations yesterday occurred in Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Valle d'Aosta.

In Val di Fassa, after the water bomb that last night caused numerous landslides in the various inhabited centers, the situation is back under control with the return home of the evacuees.

Above Cortina d'Ampezzo, however, a couple of mountaineers were rescued after being hit by bad weather at 2,950 meters above sea level on the Ferrata di Punta Aglio at Tofana di Mezzo, while two groups of scouts surprised by thunderstorms were rescued and recovered in Santo Stefano di Cadore and in the Malga Fanes area, above the pearl of the Dolomites.

Also in Cortina, the 'Alemagna' state road remains closed due to a landslide that fell in two points immediately after the town in the direction of Dobbiaco.

It is no better in the Aosta Valley.

In Val Ferret, under Mont Blanc, the landslide damaged the aqueduct: three hamlets are without water and Courmayeur will be too in the next few hours.

"Unfortunately - said Mayor Roberto Rota - the damage to the aqueduct is important. We are working, and will continue to do so day and night. But in a few hours the town will be without water".

On the viability source, the black sticker weekend started without major problems.

On the motorways, traffic was sustained as expected but there were no emergencies, except on the border between Italy and Slovenia, but due to fires.

For Viabilità Italia the volume of traffic was intense on the entire network but apart from episodes related to accidents on the A1 and A14, the situation remained substantially under control.

Ferries instead taken by storm in Genoa where the Port Authority has prepared the opening of the gates as early as 4 in the morning to contain the inconvenience: the estimate speaks of 7 thousand vehicles passed through.

Queues were registered between the Genova Ovest exit and the port.

Crowds also in the port of Naples for ferries and hydrofoils to the islands of the Gulf.

Terminals full of tourists also departing from the major airports, from Milan to Rome Fiumicino.

Predicted numbers that seem to bring the clock back to before the pandemic.

According to an analysis by Coldiretti / Ixè, 35 million Italians have decided to go on vacation this year, an increase of 4% compared to 2021. August remains the month of "holidays" for almost two out of three Italians, equal to 63%.

For the majority of Italians traveling (53%) the duration of the holiday is less than a week while for almost one in three Italians (30%) it is between one and two weeks, but there is a very lucky 3% who stay out over a month.

The average duration of the holiday is almost ten days (9.8), still far from the more than 11 days of the pre-pandemic period, even if it is on the rise compared to the two-year period marked by Covid.