Heavy snow in Italy cuts off villages

ROME?? Heavy snow fell across Italy on Saturday, blanketing the capital Rome, cutting off mountain villages and disrupting roads, railways and airports around the country.

The return within days of the heaviest snowfalls in Rome since the 1980s shut sites such as the Colosseum but gave tourists and residents another chance to see landmarks such as Saint Peter's Square and the Trevi fountain dusted with snow.

Rome's Fiumicino airport planned to cancel half of flights on Saturday, Italy's civil aviation authority Enac said in a statement. Several other airports across the country were closed or reducing operations.

Unusually heavy snow has been falling over much of Italy, causing disruption of train and road transport especially in mountainous regions where emergency services have been struggling to reach isolated villages.

Snow continued to fall in the country's north-central regions, accentuating problems in towns in the Apennine mountains and near the Adriatic still struggling with several snowfalls in two weeks.

Snow also hit southern Italy. In the town of Castelvenere, a funeral had to be canceled when snow blocked the arrival of a coffin to church.

Buildings in several parts of the country were evacuated for fear that settled snow could cause them to collapse, Reuters reported.

Italian farm lobbies said that weeks of freezing cold and a string of snowstorms have prevented fruit, vegetables and meat from reaching market, leaving some 100,000 tons of products to rot. Dairy farmers also warned that unless roads linking them to markets are cleared soon, milk will spoil.

Europe's big chill persists
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, the cold snap which began in late January continued. In Serbia Saturday, overnight snowfall hampered operations to reach some 20,000 households in remote villages which have been cut off since the blizzards started over two weeks ago. The country is also suffering electricity shortages, with authorities ordering a public holiday Friday to preserve energy.

Story: At least 3 killed in avalanche in Kosovo

Schools and universities will be closed to save electricity for the whole of next week.

High winds and blizzards closed many roads and highways on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia on Saturday, with unprecedented snow blanketing some of its islands and tourist resorts. Some 3,000 households in western Croatia were without electricity Saturday because of power cuts due to bad weather.

Below-freezing temperatures also persisted across Germany. In Hamburg, tens of thousands of people crowded onto the frozen Aussenalster lake in the city center.

And in Montenegro , the heaviest snowfall in 63 years sealed off hundreds of villages, shutting down roads and railways and closing down the main airport in the tiny Blakan state on Saturday, reported The Associated Press.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46352241/ns/weather/

santorum atlanta falcons new hampshire debate brandon jacobs brandon jacobs barry sanders barry sanders