Italy
Thankfully, through persistent searching on the Internet Archive the information in this article can be verified. The re-writing of weather modification history to make it look like a modern 'thing' only serves to circumvent debate on what damage to weather systems has been done via such projects.
France (1769) and Italy (1899) have the oldest weather modification projects in Europe, with Germany coming in second from the 1930's and the UK coming in third from the 1940's. Links are provided at the end of this article.
Astro
Astro and Astro 2: Astro focused on the recovery and enhancement of the meteorological information of Trentino. Thunderstorm postcards, meteorological charts and weather journals of stations located in the province of Trento have been scanned. The data factsheet section on the idare-portal.org/data/astro web page shows a link for Astro 2 cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito/index which is now a dead link. (Working link, via the internet archive is below).
Astro 2 correlates bibliographic sources on experimental hail defence studies. The National Historical Library of Italian Meteorology of CREA-AA specializes in the geophysics sector, with particular regard to meteorology, climatology and seismology. There are also numerous texts concerning particularly severe weather phenomena including studies on the defence against hail. During the project, specialized bibliographic research was carried out, aimed at drawing a picture of the historical development of 'anti-hail defence' in Trentino. The digitization of the texts kept in the Library allows their free consultation (which are not publicly accessible) and represents the first step in the creation of the CREA digital meteorological library.
It is important to note that anti-hail projects were and are being carried out in the Alpine regions in various countries as a measure to avoid damage to grapevines. In other words, weather modification is being carried out so wine producers can sell their products.
Anti Hail Sound Cannons - Keep in mind these are early attempts at modifying the weather and 'sound cannons' are described in our current times as crude, early, pseudo-scientific attempts at weather modification. That statement works if you ignore modern versions of the technique. In Mexico in August 2018, farmers accused the vehicle manufacturer 'Volkswagen' (VW) of altering the weather. VW had installed 'hail cannons' at its Puebla production facility which fire shockwaves into the atmosphere to prevent the formation of hail stones (to prevent damage to new vehicles). So the technique is still being used, over 100 years after Italy was using it. Italy has had a weather modification programme for 125 years. The 'pseudo-scientific' claim doesn't have much value, except for disinformation objectives.
The 1700's
The concept of hail suppression and experiments related to it dates back to 1760 with projects being carried out in 1769 in France. The Professor of Physics and Meteorology, F. Houdaille, at the National School of Agriculture in Montpelier, France published a paper in 1901 (Paris) titled 'Les Orages A Grele et Le Tir Des Canons' (Hailstorms and Canon Firing), in which it was stated "A French physicist from Jacour proposed in 1760 in an article inserted in the Encyclopedia, the installation of firing stations to fight against storms of hail and 'Arago' reports in his memoir on the thunder, published around 1769, that the Marquis de Chevriers on his property in Vaurenard (Maconnais) was burning each year, 100 to 150 kilograms of 'mine powder' to defend against hail. At the beginning of the 19th century, several communes of Maconnais, Vaurenard, Azé, Romanèche, Fleury, employed mortars with a load reaching 500 grams of powder to ward off hail. This custom has survived (to 1901 when the paper was published) in some localities in the same region, but in the state of isolated shots on certain points of the vineyard."
It is not too far a stretch to go from the 1760's up to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. In September 1899, Professor Luigi Bombicci Porta, released a paper titled 'Spari Contro Le Nubi Temporalesche Grandinifere' (You Shoot Against the Hazardous Storm Clouds) which was a summary from a conference on experiments, published as an extract from a Siena agricultural meeting in 1899.
A report of studies done in the year 1900 by the government station for the study of thunderstorms and hailstorm experiments in S. Giorgio Monferrato was published in 1901 by the Central Meteorological and Geodynamic Office. They also published similar reports in 1902 & 1903.
In 1912, Dr. Pericle Gamba, director of the Pavia Geophysical Observatory, published a paper titled "A new defence system against hail and atmospheric electrical discharges"
The 1950's
A couple of World Wars later, in 1950, the "Report on the conduct of the hail defence experiment implemented in 1950 by the Volunteer Consortium Experimentation Cenate Anti-Hail Fight in the Province of Bergamo" was published. In the introduction it was stated "In making public the report on the conduct of the anti-hail defence experiment implemented during the year 1950 by the Cenate Voluntary Consortium, prepared at the request of the competent Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, I think it appropriate to precede this brief introduction, hoping that it will serve to further disseminate knowledge of the exciting problem and to stimulate, above all, in many, the initiative to become promoters of experiments of this kind because only by their multiplication and continuation will it be possible, in a few years, to say whether science and technology have really given man the possibility to defend oneself from the scourge of hail." And here we are 75 years later in 2024.
Various reports about Italian activity were released in the 1950's. The Center for the Development of Anti-Hail Defence of the Province of Asti: At the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture published a paper by Dr. Ezio Barbero titled "New developments in Anti-Hail Defence, Ionizing Oxides - 1955" The introduction states "Before reporting in detail on the new means of defence that have come into action in 1955 in the province of Asti - and related results -, it is necessary to make some brief considerations, recalling in summary what has been achieved overall so far in the sector of the fight against hail on a scientific and technical level." The report states further, "This technique, consisting, as mentioned above, in sowing or injecting new nuclei into the atmosphere, has now been fully applied in Europe to anti-hail defence; in 1952 in France (Toulouse), in 1953 in Switzerland (Magadino) and in 1954 in Italy (Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto) and in (the Former) Yugoslavia (Belgrade). The 1950's finish up where the same technique, seen decades before, make another appearance with a "Report including the basis of a study on the effects of pressure waves caused by explosions on hailstones" which was written by Ottavio Vittori Antisari (1959). The work to which this report refers is part of the program of the 1959 research on hail clouds in the Veronese area. They collaborated with the organisation of the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Anti-hail Union and the Meteorological Service of the Air Force.
The second half of the 20th century
The theme continues into the 60's. "The effect of shock waves on hail grain models" was published in 1968 authored by Roger F. Favreau (Canada) & Guy G. Goyer (Colorado, USA).
September 1969 and we find American confirmation via Herbert S Appleman which was published by the Air Weather Service of the USAF. "Large-scale hail-suppression efforts have been carried out for a number of years in Russia, France, Switzerland, and Italy, and smaller efforts in the United States and other countries. Results are contradictory. The Russian tests appear most promising, but it is generally agreed that further testing under scientifically controlled conditions Is necessary before their conclusions can be accepted."
The 1970's see's "Hail prevention in the Province of Trento" authored by Pietro Ferrari and Serafino Orsi (1973). "In 1973, a survey was made of the hail phenomena that had occurred on the cultivated area during the period June - September, with the aim of document the number of hailstorms, their spread, intensity and energy kinetics. Some interesting observations have been made on the kinetic energy, frequency and chronological distribution of the phenomenon throughout the day and control period as well as on the geographical and altimetric distribution of the hailstorms. For now, no conclusions can be drawn about the meaning and effect of anti-hail systems in place. The observations will continue in the coming years years with the aim of verifying this effect, extending the survey to the Province of Bolzano."
1982, "The Italian-Yugoslav defence against hail in the border area of Collio" (Domenico Vento). 1987, "Research of the Italo-Yugoslavian common hail prevention system" also written by Domenico Vento.
There is probably more info around for the 1990's - 2010's but that would need an Italian speaker/researcher. In 2016, Italy did crop up again after hosting delegates from the UAE Rain Enhancement Programme, where they exchanged innovative ideas on rain enhancement.
Source
Italy
This page has been removed www.cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito/pubblicazioni.asp
Internet Archive stored version - click 'English' and it will translate it. https://web.archive.org/web/20210916204446/http://cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito/pubblicazioni.asp
Internet Archive for Astro 2 https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito*
The (dead) link is still showing here (on the right) www.idare-portal.org/data/astro
and here (at the bottom) www.vineas.net/en/7_114/602aa722598b001f7cb10678/Preventing%20hail%20damages%20in%20the%20vineyard.html (Preventing Hail Damages In The Vineyard)
Puebla, Mexico (VW) hail-cannons https://www.rt.com/business/436670-volkswagen-mexico-farmers-complains/
France - 1769
https://web.archive.org/web/20220404141537/http://cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito/doc/Orages_a_grele.pdf
Siena, Italy - 1899
1901-1903
1912
https://web.archive.org/web/20220404141340/http://cma.entecra.it/Astro2_sito/doc/Nuovo_sistema.pdf
1950
1955
1959
1968 - USA/Canada
1969
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0696619.pdf
1973
1982
1987
2016
Thankyou for getting the information available to the public instead of hidden under secrecy still