Freeze hits minus 30 in northern Italy

Temperatures in the Alpine region of Piedmont in northern Italy went as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) on Friday as snow flakes began falling in Rome — an extremely rare occurrence.Up to five centimetres of snow fell in suburbs of the Italian capital, although there was little precipitation in the city centre. Rome has only seen one snowfall in past 15 years in which the snow stayed for a whole day.Trains meanwhile resumed normal service across the country except in and around Bologna and on a local line near Rome, the state railways said in a statement after days of delays that affected thousands of passengers.The interior ministry advised car drivers to avoid regions of central Italy due to the heavy snowfall and traffic was backed up on some motorways. Three people have died due to the extreme weather in recent days, including a homeless man found in the centre of Milan on Thursday. Snow and freezing temperatures are forecast to continue into Saturday.