The campaign for Sunday's regional elections in Sicily turned venomous on Tuesday, with one candidate accused of Mafia links and another talking of burning a rival politician alive.
The latter case centred on Angelo Parisi, who is set to become a member of the regional executive if the 5-Star Movement's (M5S) governor candidate Giancarlo Cancelleri wins.
In a social media post, Parisi attacked Ettore Rosato, the Lower House whip for the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the architect of a controversial new election law.
"Let's make a pact: if the Constitutional Court strikes down your law, we won't burn you alive, OK?," the post read.
Parisi later apologised, while arguing that the case had been manipulated.
Cancelleri rejected calls for him to be dropped from the ticket.
Meanwhile, Claudio Fava, the governor candidate for a leftwing coalition, attacked one person on a M5S electoral list, Giacomo Li Destri, because his cousin is on trial for Mafia crimes, saying this was politically and morally inopportune.
Li Destri hit back, saying he had had nothing to do with his cousin for decades and would sue Fava for defamation. The Lower House's constitutional affairs committee, meanwhile, on Tuesday rejected a petition for the government to ask the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to send observers to watch over the regional elections in Sicily.
Earlier this month M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said the movement was "very worried about the risk of vote buying" in Sicily.
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