Italy's civil protection department issued a heat-wave warning on Monday for nine Italian cities where temperatures are expected to be close to or even surpass 40 degrees centigrade this week.

The warning is in place on Monday only for the northern city of Brescia, while it will be on Tuesday extended to Bologna, Milan and Bolzano in the north and Rome in central Italy.

And Perugia, Latina and Civitavecchia in central Italy and Palermo in the south will get the warning on Wednesday, the ANSA news agency reported.

The heat wave is expected to last several days and civil protection officials said special measures need to be taken for those most at risk: the elderly, newborns and people with respiratory or cardiovascular problems.

These measures include staying indoors during the day, drinking plenty of liquids and eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

Except for some isolated afternoon showers in northern and central mountain areas, forecasters see no break in the hot weather until next week.

Source: Xinhua