Authorities have recovered works of art worth €1.5m that had been stolen from churches, castles and private homes throughout northern Italy since 1990, the Carabinieri paramilitary police said today.

Parties from Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative coalition yesterday appeared largely headed for their latest defeat at the hands of the centre-left opposition, according to partial results from local elections on the island of Sardinia and parts of northern Italy.