Snow kept falling in the north of Italy, with temperatures dropping to minus 25 degrees Celsius in Marcesina on the shores of Lake Garda, and there was black ice in Calabria and Sardegna in the south.

A woman froze to death in Monza, near Milan, on Tuesday, as did a mentally ill man who had wandered off from the institute where he was being looked after in the Campagna region.

A homeless man was found dead under a cardboard shelter in Ferrara, while a woman who had been admitted to hospital several days ago died of hypothermia.

Seven people were injured in Trieste in northern Italy when they were blown off their feet by a gale, despite chains and ropes stretched along streets in the city which is often battered by a fierce northern wind known as the Bora.

One woman died on Saturday when she was knocked to the ground by the wind.

Residents in Potenza, in the southern Basilicata region, took to their skis to get around amid a heavy snowfall which blanketed the sleepy city.

In the town of L'Aquila, devastated by an earthquake in 2009, snowed-in residents warned of food shortages and wolves scavenged in the white, deserted streets of the nearby town of Trasacco, the Corriere della Sera daily said.

Life in the centre of Rome returned to normal after days of chaos in the wake of the heaviest snowfall in 27 years, but schools remained closed and thousands in the surrounding region were still without electricity or heating.

The capital's main shopping thoroughfare, the Via del Corso in the historic centre, was closed to traffic after fears vast ice-sheets could slide off roofs and plummet onto passing pedestrians and vehicles.

Biting temperatures and widespread snow and ice have caused up to 500 million euros ($610 million) worth of damages to Italy's agriculture sector so far, the Confagricoltura association said.

The cold snap is forecast to continue at least until the weekend.

The economic development ministry activated a plan to maximise gas supplies to vulnerable households by reducing gas supplies to industrial clients and switching from gas to oil-fired power stations.

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