ROME -- Firefighters battling wildfires in the hills around the port city of Genoa evacuated hundreds of people from their homes Thursday as fresh winds and high temperatures fanned summer blazes ravaging much of Italy.

Fire and forestry units backed by water-dumping helicopters were faced with fresh flare-ups in the hills around the Ligurian port city, evacuating around 300 people from their homes in the Pra Palmaro district.

A fleet of ambulances were used to relocate elderly people threatened by billowing clouds of thick smoke.

The firefighters' task was complicated by winds and high temperatures which combined to rekindle fires which had apparently been quenched the day before.

"The situation is dramatic and if we can't control it by this evening the number of people needing to be evacuated will increase," provincial Forestry Department Chief Antonio Mommo said.

Two firemen were treated for smoke inhalation. However, dwellings were reported to be at no immediate risk from the fires, AFP reported.

By late afternoon many people were being allowed back to their homes as a sudden thunderstorm helped damp down the flames.

Italy's Forestry Department said it had received more than 1,100 emergency calls in a 12-hour spell from midnight Wednesday. The highest number of fires were reported in Tuscany, Liguria, Campania and Lazio, the province of Rome.

In Salerno to the north, a further 100 people had to be evacuated from a Roma camp threatened by encroaching flames, and authorities were forced to close the main autostrada linking Genoa with Savona for four hours in the early morning, causing traffic tailbacks.

Despite the near-record temperatures, officials have asked residents in Genoa to keep their windows shut to lower the risk of smoke inhalation and eye irritation, despite the soaring temperatures.

Mommo said the dense smoke had begun to pose an obstacle for the yellow Canadair water-bombing planes.

The heatweave conditions had turned even normally humid areas into fire hazards, according to the official.

"It's a fresh and damp valley and usually isn't affected by fires, but this year the unusual temperature has caused us an emergency here too," Mommo said of one of several blazes near Genoa.

In southern Italy, dense smoke from fresh wildfires forced authorities to close the famous "Amalfitana" scenic coastal route between Sorrento and Amalfi south of Naples for several hours.

After major blazes in the tourist island of Elba, where 300 tourists had to be evacuated from apartments on Wednesday, were brought under control, authorities reported at least one fresh flare-up on Thursday afternoon.

Fires on Wednesday destroyed some 750 hectares (around 1,800 acres) of forest and Mediterranean brush on the island. Authorities had found evidence that some blazes had been started deliberately, local fire official Marco Gulinelli told the ANSA News Agency. A youth was arrested in Tuscany on Wednesday on suspicion of arson.

Canadairs and helicopters have been deployed throughout daylight hours to fight the country's major fires, but in other areas the battle was left to those on the ground because of lack of air resources.

On Wednesday alone, as temperatures reached 39 degrees centigrade (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in the capital Rome and 40 in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, fire departments recorded 350 separate fire outbreaks, 145 in Tuscany alone.