Culinary catastrophe
Extreme heat in Italy threatens shellfish needed for prized pasta dishes
An intense summer heat wave sweeping across southern Europe is threatening one of Italy's best-known culinary traditions, killing off clams and mussels in the lagoons of the Po River Delta and putting at risk the ingredients behind some of the country's most iconic seafood pasta dishes.
In the shallow brackish lagoons at the mouth of the Po River, water temperatures have risen to around 32 C, turning them into what local producers describe as "gigantic cooking pots", The Telegraph reported.
The extreme heat has proved fatal for shellfish, with widespread mortality reported among clams and mussels.
The losses have raised concerns for spaghetti alle vongole, a cherished Italian dish made with clams, olive oil, garlic and parsley, as well as spaghetti allo scoglio, another prized pasta traditionally prepared with clams, mussels and other shellfish.
In the Sacca di Goro lagoon, at the mouth of the Po River, up to 90 percent of clams have died, according to Confcooperative Agroalimentare e Pesca, Italy's farming and fishing cooperative association.
The shellfish die-off is unfolding against the backdrop of mounting environmental pressures across the Po Valley, one of Europe's most intensively cultivated and densely populated regions.
Shaped by the Po River, known in ancient times as the Padus, the region supports agriculture, livestock farming, irrigation networks, food industries, cities and distribution systems that together generate major outputs of rice, maize, wheat, dairy products and other foods.
Yet the same system faces overlapping pressures. Pollution, shrinking Alpine snow reserves, drought, floods, heat waves, saltwater intrusion and increasingly unstable seasons are disrupting water availability and traditional agricultural calendars.
The shellfish die-off comes as large parts of southern Europe have endured weeks of extreme heat. In July, heat waves fueled wildfires across several countries, strained water resources and intensified drought conditions, underscoring the growing impact of rising temperatures on ecosystems and agriculture across the region.
