More than 1,100 asylum seekers have been rescued off the coast of Italy, the nation’s navy said in a statement.

Patrol choppers saw the overcrowded rafts, and four navy vessels rescued those on board Wednesday.

Officials believe the asylum seekers were from sub-Saharan Africa. About 50 children were on board.

All of the passengers are en route to the port of Augusta, were they are expected to arrive Friday.

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A seaside town in southern Italy has astonished locals and holiday-makers by instituting a ban on bikinis.

The coastal town of Vietri Sul Mare on the AmalfiCoast has barred anyone from showing too much flesh outside of the beach.

Holiday makers walking around town in skimpy swimwear or bare-chested will now face a steep fine.

The restrictions against bikinis and bare chests was first brought in in 2010. However, the town’s mayor Franco Benincasa has now decided to enforce hefty fines in order to better protect the town’s ‘image’.

Offenders who are caught flaunting bare skin on streets, in public areas and, most of all on the marina of the upmarket seaside town, will face a fine of up to €500.

Vietri Sul Mare’s is not the first town in the area to implement the controversial move. In 2010, another coastal town in the region, Castellammare di Stabia, passed a similar ban, outlawing ‘very skimpy clothes’, alongside blasphemy and football kickabouts.

Local police commissioner Vincenzo Alfano said: ‘The ban was created to protect the image and decorum of all the townspeople and all the tourists in the area.

‘Very often we have witnessed indecent and shameful scenes of people entering public places such as bars and restaurants, shirtless or in costume.

‘In our opinion, it is an attitude that must be eliminated.’