FThis year, for the first time in the family’s four-generation history, Vito Amantia’s threshing machines have been idle. The 650,000 kg of wheat that his farm would normally produce per year have withered and withered under the scorching sun and relentless drought.

“An experienced farmer doesn’t need to check the weather forecast to know what the weather will be like,” says Amantia, 68, who farms in the Catania plain in eastern Sicily. “I already knew last January that it was going to be a disastrous year. The wheat seedlings, which normally grow to 80 cm, stopped at 5 cm. Then they dried up.”

Sicily is battling one of the worst water crises in its history. The island, the largest and most populous in the Mediterranean, where a European temperature record of 48.8 degrees Celsius was reached in 2021, is at risk of desertification. Only 150 mm of rain fell in the last six months of 2023, and in May the government in Rome declared a state of emergency.

But while the water crisis poses an existential threat to many locals, it is not deterring tourists. Like many parts of southern Europe, Sicily is caught between water shortages and a rising influx of visitors, who, despite the additional strain on resources, continue to be valued as one of the main drivers of the economy.

“Tourist destinations in southern Europe such as Spain and Sicily have always been popular destinations,” says Christian Mulder, professor of ecology and climate emergency at the University of Catania. “The average tourist seeks the sun, regardless of water shortages, and demands that water be readily available. Overtourism increases the pressure on Sicily’s already scarce water resources, with inevitable environmental consequences.”

Due to the climate emergency, an incredible 70 percent of Sicily is threatened by desertification, according to the Italian National Research Council. Most of the island’s lakes are already almost dry. The artificial lake of Fanaco in central Sicily once held 20 million cubic meters of water, but today it only holds 300,000. The reservoirs, which have degenerated into mud puddles, give off a strong smell of dead and decaying fish.

Water rationing has forced businesses to close and thousands of families to store water supplies in their homes for washing or cooking. According to the National Association of the Agricultural Water Board, some drinking water reservoirs were only filled to 10% of their capacity in March.

“This is a drought emergency of unprecedented proportions,” said Sicily’s Governor Renato Schifani.

In addition to the drought, summer wildfires have also destroyed vegetation. The regional civil protection agency estimates that last year’s fires caused more than €60 million (£51 million) in damage, with more than 693 hectares of forest on the island razed to the ground. Between Monday and Tuesday, at least 10 fires across the island destroyed dozens of hectares of forest, pine groves and farmland.

Coldiretti, Italy’s largest farmers’ association, is trying to support the agricultural sector by using its own money to fill artificial lakes with tankers. But these efforts alone are not enough.

The scale of the challenge is clear on a trip through the Sicilian hinterland, where the only signs of life are small herds of emaciated cattle spread across the arid hills. Here, temperatures rise above 40 degrees during the day. There is no water left for the cattle to drink. According to the Association of Young Agricultural Entrepreneurs, the drought is driving young Sicilian farmers away from the island, while dozens of breeders are forced to sell or slaughter their livestock.

Liborio Mangiapane, a 60-year-old farmer who keeps 100 cows and 150 goats in the Cammarata area of ​​Agrigento province, says if the situation does not improve he will have to resort to culling.

“Without water, my cows no longer give milk,” says Mangiapane. “The land is slowly devastated. Even in our own family, we are forced to shower and cook with bottled water because there is no running water anymore.”

Most visitors experience it differently, even as the hotel industry grapples behind the scenes with how to continue to protect itself. Despite the water crisis, Sicily’s many hotels, resorts and B&Bs remain busy, the streets of the big cities are teeming with tourists, restaurants are fully booked and beaches are packed with thousands of people. Long queues form in front of museums, churches and monuments.

“I knew about the water crisis. Some friends here in Sicily told me the situation was not extreme, so I decided to come here,” says Loretta Sebastiani, 25, from Rome. “As for the heat, I’m used to the sweltering heat of the capital.”

Gerardo Schuler, president of the main hotel association Federalberghi in Taormina – which has become one of the region’s most sought-after destinations since its appearance in the television series “The White Lotus” – said the city’s hotels were “at 95 percent capacity”.

“There have been no cancellations or major disruptions,” says Nico Torrisi, president of Federalberghi Sicilia and managing director of Catania and Comiso airports in the east, “but it is clear that some establishments are struggling, especially in the province of Agrigento, where some B&B owners have had problems with water supplies. The problem is that the climate in Sicily has been changing for years and we have to get used to the fact that every summer brings extreme heat and drought.”

But visitors are not coming, rather they are not scaring the island away. According to figures collected by the Data Appeal Company at Sicily’s two main airports, Palermo and Catania, there was an increase in flights to the island in August, by 20 and 16 percent respectively, compared to the previous year.

Some hotels and guesthouses have already prepared for a dry season by installing water tanks on their premises, while others have had to resort to private water transport services to fill their tanks at their own expense.

“We get up every morning to check the water level in our tanks,” says Francesco Picarella, president of Federalberghi in Agrigento. “Tourists are not fleeing Sicilian cities at all. However, some hotels and guest houses are struggling to manage water and ensure the daily water supply for their guests.”

Traditionally, drinking water on the island has been extracted from aquifers, underground rock layers saturated with water, while water for agriculture is stored in large tanks built after World War II. Both systems rely on winter rains, which are becoming increasingly rare. And for three decades, the necessary maintenance of the irrigation network has been neglected.

“While large hotels in drought-affected areas, such as the province of Agrigento, have extensive infrastructure to supply their guests with water, smaller establishments with fewer resources are suffering,” says Mulder.

Giuseppe Friscia, who runs a B&B in Sciacca in the province of Agrigento, has bought a warehouse and installed water tanks there with a capacity of up to 10,000 litres. “Some B&Bs are forced to call private water trucks and pay 90 euros (£77) each time to fill their tanks,” he says.

The discovery of an underground aquifer in November last year represents an important potential resource. Geologists identified the underground basin about 800 meters beneath the Iblei Mountains in the province of Ragusa. It is believed to contain around 17 billion cubic meters of water.

“If the analysis confirms its viability, this huge reservoir could represent an exceptional resource in the medium and long term,” said Schifani.

The basin is only a few dozen kilometers from the lands of Catania farmer Vito Amantia, but he is not getting his hopes up. The farmer knows that the future of his work and that of the entire island hangs by a thread.

“You should hurry,” he says. “You should be aware that this is a ticking time bomb.”