Italy reported 502 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 354 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 20,396 from 15,267 the day before.
Some 369,375 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 179,015, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 103,001 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.26 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 26,098 on Tuesday, up from 25,338 a day earlier.
There were 319 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 243 on Monday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 3,256 from a previous 3,157.
When Italy's second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Gianluca Semeraro)
