Five years on from recording the highest temperature in European history, people in Floridia, Italy, now live very different lives with many almost 'living in another lockdown'15:53, 21 Aug 2026Updated 16:40, 21 Aug 2026The lives of residents in Europe’s hottest town are now totally unrecognisable due to the impacts of climate change, with many rarely going outside and others' livelihoods under threat.‌Officials is Floridia, Italy, say increasingly frequent and prolonged intense heatwaves are keeping people inside, five years after a temperature of 48.8c was recorded in the Sicilian town on the outskirts of Syracuse, with a population of 20,000.‌Things have cooled slightly, but the effects on daily life have changed totally, with the extreme heat reducing the time spent outside as locals say it is so hot at times still that they often struggle to ‌breathe.‌The World Meteorological Organisation officially confirmed a new record temperature for continental Europe of 48.8c - or 119.8°F - on 11 August 2021 and Floridia's culture councillor Serena Spada ⁠said it feels likes the town has endured another lockdown during summer months."It's awful because many people end up shut indoors," he told Reuters. "In a way, we are all experiencing another kind of lockdown.‌"Even people with small children find themselves in this situation. Children cannot go to the park or play outside because, until late afternoon, temperatures are ⁠genuinely hostile."Piazza del Popolo, the town’s once thriving traditional social hub, is now nearly empty for much of the day. Lined with cafes and palm trees, residents prefer to stay at home with tourists now few and far between in the summer months.‌The previous record for continental Europe, 48.0c, was recorded in July 1977, in the cities of Athens and Elefsina, Greece.But Floridia's near-50c conditions may not be a one off, experts have warned.‌“The extremes presented before the WMO for adjudication are snapshots of our current climate. It is possible, indeed likely, that greater extremes will occur across Europe in the future," said Prof. Randall Cerveny, Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for WMO."When such observations are made, new WMO evaluation committees will be formed to adjudicate such observations as extremes."“Most investigations, like this one, are lengthy procedures because of the meticulous care that the WMO undertakes in certifying weather observations.Article continues below"Such painstaking evaluation provides the critical confidence that our global records of temperatures are properly being measured. Beyond that, this investigation demonstrates the alarming tendency for continuing high temperature records to be set in specific regions of the world."