The Local

Snow in Turin earlier in December. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP Parts of northe Italy are on red alert after a weekend of freezing rain and snow that has left roads icy, trains stuck and schools closed. Italy saw its first widespread snowfall of 2017 over the weekend as flakes fell from the far north as far as Tuscany. While people enjoyed the wintery scenes in Milan and Venice, elsewhere the weather disrupted train services and created treacherous conditions on roads. On Sunday, around 400 people were stranded on a train that got stuck between Milan and the French city of Nice when an overhead power line froze. Over three hours later – a...

Two councils declared a state of emergency while others reported extreme floods, hailstorms and damage to infrastructure over the weekend across northe Italy. A teenage boy is missing too after being dragged away by strong currents in the Adda River. Torrential rains, storms, hailstorms and strong...

Roasted chestnuts are a familiar sight on Italy's streets - but the autumnal snack is under threat. Photo: Allen Brewer/FlickrThe sight, smell and taste of roasted chestnuts are one of the hallmarks of an Italian autumn - but production of the nuts has hit a "historic low" in 2016. A combination of unfavourable weather and parasites targeting chestnut trees has led to a huge drop in production this year, Italian farmers' organization Coldiretti waed on Saturday. In Saleo, the top location for chestnut farming, chestnut production could fall by as much as 90 percent, the local branch of Coldiretti said. The organization labelled the drop a "disaster" and met with local farmers over the weeken...