The number of fires jumped 330 percent in the same period.

"Nothing is being done in terms of prevention, and yet the pace of fires, mainly caused by arsonists, is likely to increase this summer," Simone Andreotti, Legambiente's national spokesman for civil protection, told Reuters.

Last month, Italy declared a state of emergency to fight forest fires, a regular feature of the landscape during parched summers. Italy is suffering from another severe drought this year, mainly in the south.

The fires are mostly started by arsonists who the Farm Ministry says want to convert burnt woodland into pastures or farms to claim EU subsidies.

Legambiente appealed for a campaign to educate the public and for a 15-year ban on using burnt land for construction and hunting.

"Prevention and plans to step in and stop the fires are sensationally delayed," said Legambiente's director-general Francesco Ferrante.

Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno said the fire brigade needed to be modernised and given satellite technology to combat forest fires.

"We have to speed up the chain of command," he told the respected La Stampa newspaper.

The Interior Ministry estimates forest fires destroyed 2.7 million hectares of woodland in the past 20 years. Forests now cover about 8.7 million hectares, or about 28 percent of Italy.