Italy is on fire. This year has been particularly bad for forest fires and the sad thing is that most of them have been started deliberately. Why should anyone want to destroy the wonderful arboreal heritage of Italy? There are various reasons related to illegal land use. Many of the reasons are just to get rid of illegal fly-tipping.

The vilest methods have been used by mafia-inspired pyromaniacs to spread fires. Perhaps the most shocking is the finding by the forestry guards of cat carcasses burnt by the flames on Mount Vesuvius. Here’s a typical headline which doesn’t need much knowledge of Italian to translate.

ORRORE SUL VESUVIO: ANIMALI VIVI USATI PER ESTENDERE LE FIAMME

Our area is certainly not exempt from forest fires. Luckily although there are traces everywhere of fires they have so far been extinguished before they spread too far. Often it’s the lazy smoker-motorist who throws his/her cigarette out of the car window. Why else do so many of these fires start by the road side?

(A local fire at Balbano put out in time)

In spite of all this we enjoyed our time at the seaside yesterday in temperatures above thirty centigrade by the Tyrhennian Sea.

Let’s hope that some rain falls soon because this dryness not only encourages forest fires: it destroys crops, to say nothing of wildlife and air pollution.