Some 2.273 million people tuned
in to watch Gianfranco Rosi's Fire At Sea (Fuocoammare) when it
was screened for the first time on Italian television by State
broadcaster RAI on Monday.
The film, a documentary about Italian migrant
stepping-stone island Lampedusa, had 8.8% of the overall
audience share and was the third most-watched programme of the
evening.
The movie won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
earlier this year and is Italy's contender for the best foreign
language film at the 2017 Oscars.
It looks at the lives of island residents as well as
migrants who land on the island, which is closer to Africa than
to mainland Italy.
Among the stories it focuses on is that of Dr Pietro
Bartolo, a Lampedusa medic who works with asylum seekers.
Premier Matteo Renzi is a fan and gave DVDs of it to his
fellow European leaders at an EU summit in March to highlight
how Italy is tackling the Mediterranean migrant crisis.
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