Eight people were killed and at least 47 injured when a Venice-bound train veered off the rails in Sicily, a police spokesman said.
Officials said of the 47 people hurt, at least 12 were hospitalised in a serious condition.
Italian authorities immediately ordered an inquiry into the cause of Italy's worst train disaster since 1979 which occurred just a few kilometres from the place where 12 people lost their lives in the 1979 collision.
The train had left the Sicilian capital Palermo and was approaching the northeastern town of Messina just before 5 p.m yesterday when it jumped the tracks.
The national rail company Trenitalia said 190 people including many foreign tourists were on board the train which had left Palermo at 2 pm, for Venice in northern Italy.
AFP