Centre-right politicians rallied to the defence of Interior Minister Roberto Maroni on Tuesday, after he came under fire for comments about illegal immigration.
Maroni drew widespread criticism for saying the only way Italy would stamp out illegal immigration was by weeding out ''softness'' and becoming ''mean and determined, in order to uphold the law''.
Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said Maroni's remarks had doubtless been taken out of context.
''What he probably meant to say is that we should act to avoid illegal immigration,'' said Alemanno, a member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party.
Angela Maraventano, a senator with Maroni's Northern League party, which is known for its hostility to illegal immigration, defended the minister's ''kind-hearted work''.
''Italy needs more determined, unwavering men like him'', she said, adding: ''If the centre-left had won the last election, the invasion from abroad would have been even worse''.
The PdL's deputy House whip, Italo Bocchino said Maroni had only been speaking the truth, ''that you have to be extremely tough in the face of illegal immigration''.
But criticism continued to flow on Tuesday, culminating in the largest opposition group, the Democratic Party (PD), issuing a formal request for the government to explain Maroni's comments.
Former minister and PD heavyweight Livia Turco said Maroni had ''lost his mind''.
''Comments like this risk inciting hatred against defenceless individuals,'' she said.
PD spokesperson Andrea Orlando, referring to a recent wave of violent attacks against foreigners, including one incident in which a homeless man was set on fire, said greater caution was needed.
''In such times we expect a minister to weigh his words more carefully, as words can be dangerous,'' he said.
Massimo Donadi, House whip for the small Italy of Values party, said, ''a clear line is needed but putting on a tough front and making a lot of empty noise is pointless''.
Communist Refoundation party leader Paolo Ferrero said Maroni's comments were the latest evidence that ''racism and xenophobia have infiltrated the highest levels of Italy's institutions''.
Maroni made his remarks on the same day Italian President Giorgio Napolitano appealed for a stop to xenophobia in Italy after Sunday's attack on the homeless man.
Napolitano described the incident as one in a series of ''horrifying episodes''.
''By now these cannot be considered as isolated events but as alarming symptoms of a widespread trend that is unfortunately growing,'' the president said.
Italy has seen a string of racist attacks over the last year, including the burning of gypsy camps in Naples, the murder of a man from Burkina Faso, clubbed to death by a Milanese shopkeeper hurling racist insults, and a violent attack on a Chinese national, beaten up by teenagers while waiting for a bus.
Anti-immigrant feeling has hit a new high here after a 21-year-old Italian woman was gang raped and her boyfriend brutally beaten by a group of five Romanians near Rome last week.
Although most of the foreigners living illegally in Italy have simply overstayed their visas, political debate usually centres on the far more noticeable, if smaller, numbers arriving by sea.
According to United Nations Refugee Agency figures, some 36,000 people landed on Italian coasts in 2008 - a 75% increase on 2007.
The statistics suggest Italy took more than half of the 67,000 migrants who arrived by sea in Europe as a whole.
