Italy's south is drying out - researchers warn: Sicily is becoming a desert. Only in Morocco and Algeria is it as dry as Sicily.
In Sicily, the second half of 2023 was the driest in over a century: around 220 millimeters of precipitation was missing from September to December. Even the largest reservoir, Lago Pozzillo, hardly has any water left. Just two percent of a possible 150 million cubic meters of water is still available there. And citrus fruits reduce in size due to heat and low rainfall, production costs increase.