Precipitation in Italy from 1833 to 1996

Series of annual and seasonal precipitation from 32 stations, distributed over all Italian territory and divided in two groups climatically homogeneous, were studied for the period 1833–1996. The series were checked for homogeneity and the time series analysis was performed with the Mann Kendall test and its progressive application according to Sneyers (1990). The results show considerably different trends for different seasons and zones. On a yearly basis a decreasing trend is present over all Italy, but it is statistically significant only in the Central-South. On a seasonal basis a decreasing trend is significant only for spring in Central-South, and for autumn in the North.