hot, hot, hot again.

It's hot, hot, hot again.

Italy's civil protection department issued a heat-wave warning today 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 today only for the northern city of Brescia, while tomorrow it will be extended to Bologna, Milan and Bolzano in the north and Rome in central Italy.

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

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.