There were injuries and cancelled events in northern Italy at the weekend as hailstorms swept the region, part of a pattern that researchers say is intensifying faster here than anywhere else in the world.

A concert by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny in Milan was abandoned on Saturday night after strong winds, lightning and hail hit the venue, with AFP reporting injuries among fans. In the province of Ferrara, hailstones of up to nine centimetres in diameter damaged cars, houses and crops over the weekend.

Hailstones are only expected to get bigger and storms more frequent due to climate change, research shows.

And the frequency of severe hailstorms is increasing faster in northern Italy than anywhere else in the world, according to one study published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience in December 2025.

The study, based on weather data from 1950 to 2023 and insurance losses from 1993 to 2023, found that very large hail ('VLH') – larger than five centimetres in diameter – is becoming more common in northern Italy. 

In their summary of the findings, the researchers said the region had "emerged as a frequent location for severe hailstorms," and that the probability of very large hail there "rose fastest worldwide" over the period studied.

In 2023, a hailstone measuring 19 centimetres in diameter fell in Azzano Decimo in Friuli Venezia Giulia — the largest ever documented in Europe. That was just five days after the European record had been broken by a 16 centimetre hailstone in Carmignano di Brenta.

Hailstorms in July 2023, the worst to hit northern Italy in 40 years, caused what the researchers described as "record losses of $8.6bn, of which $6.5bn was insured."

Hailstones weighing as much as 200 grams severely damaged cars, buildings and crops as well as injuring 242 people.

The study found "significant correlations between hail events and global warming associated with climate change."

Trends were especially pronounced in northern Italy, the researchers said, "driven by an increase in low-level moisture and instability in the cold part of storms."