A young man mauled to death by a bear had tried to fight him off with a broken branch, police believe.
Andrea Papi, 26, suffered injuries to his arms, stomach, head and throat in the attack, which happened during an evening run.
DNA from the bear had been found on Andrea's wounds.
The man's girlfriend Alessia Gregori paid a poignant tribute to him on Instagram, sharing a photograph alongside the caption: "Hold me forever like this."
A bloodstained broken tree branch was found at the scene in the Italian Dolomites, and police are working on the theory Andrea used the branch to defend himself.
When Andrea never returning home from his run on Wednesday, a search team carried out a hunt for the man.
His body was found in the woodland the next day.
Around 90 bears are thought to live in the woods and officials said there have been seven attacks in the last 23 years.
It is unclear at this stage what species of bear attacked Andrea.
Andrea's mother Franca said: "Maybe if he has taken his dog with him he would still be here. He would have gone for the bear to protect Andrea.
"His last words to me were "I love you. I will see you for dinner." He was a lovely, golden boy and we used to go on long walks together in the hills."
A spokesperson for WWF Italia said: "We express our condolences for the death of this young man but we still need more details.
"Whilst emotions may be running high the destruction of a bear even if it has become dangerous must always be the last resort.
"Once again we have seen politicians trying to capitalise on this event but what should be remembered is that bears fear humans and will always keep a distance from people."
