Italians were voting on Sunday for mayors in almost 1,000 towns and cities, providing an opportunity for far-right leader Giorgia Meloni to establish her dominance of the centre-right alliance ahead of a parliamentary election early next year.
Meloni, 45, leads the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, which tops opinion polls and has been steadily draining support from its rightist ally the League, led by Matteo Salvini.
