Italy was suffering from a bad weather front at the beginning of the week, which caused heavy snowfall, even in the southernmost regions of Apulia and Basilicata.
Schools in many cities and towns were closed on Monday for safety reasons.
Even in the Sicilian province of Siracusa, where summer temperatures have reached record highs of 48.8 degrees Celsius before, some snow fell overnight.
The Civil Protection Department issued the second-highest warning level for the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche in central Italy due to heavy rain.
On the Adriatic coast, authorities are observing heavy rainfall and flooding. In the area around Senigallia, where 12 people died in storms in the autumn, residents were asked to take shelter on high floors.
On the island of Ischia, where landslides also killed 12 people at the end of November, some 400 residents had to leave their homes days ago. It is not yet known when they will be able to return.
Venice expected flooding of up to 125 centimetres. To prevent flooding of the city centre around the famous St Mark's Square, all flood protection gates were erected.
At the weekend, ferry connections to the Aeolian Islands between Sicily and Calabria resumed after being interrupted for more than 40 hours due to the bad weather. On Monday, however, the village of Ginostra on the volcanic island of Stromboli was still unreachable by boat.
In many towns and villages in central Italy, fresh snow paralysed traffic and caused chaos. In the Valmarecchia valley in the province of Rimini, the snow reached a height of up to two metres on Monday morning, according to the ANSA news agency. The authorities also warned of avalanches.
In Perugia, the capital of the Umbria region, several roads were closed because the new snow could not be cleared away at first.
Further heavy snowfall in parts was also expected in the northern Italian holiday region of South Tyrol on Monday.
