Here's my very quick translation (I'm an Italian/English translator amongst other things) of an article about the Calderone Glacier on Gran Sasso - not too far from Rome - about half way down Italy. Link to original (with photos): http://www.meteo.it/giornale/il-ghiacciaio-del-calderone-non-e-scomparso-12944.shtml
My translation:
The Calderone Glacier hasn’t disappeared – under the detritus, a layer of buried ice between 15 and 25 metres thick, can still be found.
The Calderone Glacier, on the Gran Sasso Massif, is the southernmost in Europe, and in the last few days, some alarming news has been received on its state of health: it’s virtually disappeared! In reality, on the surface, only 3 snowfields of reduced size remain, and they’re unlikely to survive to the end of the season. The situation is explained by the unusual climate conditions of the last few months; from the scarce spring snow to the anomalous heat of the summer. Indeed, as Professor Fazzini, a climatologist from the University of Camerino confirms, the weather station situated at the Rifugio Franchetti, at the base of the glacier has recorded temperatures higher than 20 degrees on 5 separate occasions in the first half of August – exceptionally high for such an altitude.
However, all this doesn’t mean that the glacier has disappeared; under the detritus, in fact, a layer of buried ice between 15 and 25 metres thick, can still be found. The glacier therefore survives, protected by rocky detritus, even though, as Professor Fazzini reminds us: “In the last 10 years its thickness has shrunk by around a metre”, in all probability down to recent climatic change.