A Nigerian asylum seeker has been beaten to death after stepping in to defend his wife from an apparently racist attack by a Right-wing football fan in a small town in northern Italy.

Emmanuel Chidi Namdi, 36, and his wife, Chinyery, fled to Italy last year after surviving a violent attack on a church in Nigeria by the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, in which members of their family were killed.

The couple was walking through the town of Fermo in the Marche region on Tuesday, when they were reportedly abused by the supporter of a local football club.