Four dead, several injured as gale-force winds batter Italy

Near Rome, a 14-year-old boy was crushed to death when his father fell on top of him after being blown off a ladder while trying to repair a roof which damaged by the wind, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

In Rome, traffic was snarled when trees fell across streets in various locations across the city, including one that fell on a taxi and ripped the cables off an electrical pole. No one was reported injured, ANSA said, while the Colosseum Archeological Park was shut down "due to strong winds", authorities tweeted.

Three people were hurt when the wind ripped a metal roof off a gym in the southern region of Sicily, firefighters said on Twitter, adding that as of late Saturday afternoon, they had carried out 1,500 interventions across Italy due to adverse weather and high winds.