While the north of Italy shivers under heavy snowfall, further south Italians are enjoying some of the highest seasonal temperatures on record.Spring has come two months early to southern Italy, with unseasonably high temperatures recorded in Rome and Palermo.
Meanwhile the northern regions of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta remain in the depths of winter – and on high alert for avalanches after more than two metres of snowfall in the past 48 hours.The mercury hit 20°C in Rome and 24°C in Palermo, according to the Weather Centre, which said that such temperatures weren’t usually reached until late spring.
At the other end of the thermometer, much of northern Italy is frozen after days of heavy snow and rain – as much as two metres in 12 hours in parts of Piedmont.
The avalanche alert  it was raised to the maximum level in parts of the region.