Campaigners in Tuscany are fighting against a plan to build a mosque a few hundred yards from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

They are concerned that it is too close to the stone tower, one of Italy’s best known tourist attractions, and fear that it could become a centre for radicalisation of local Muslims, of whom there are around 600.

The building of the mosque in Via del Brennero has been provisionally approved by Pisa’s centre-Left council but campaigners are gathering signatures for a petition calling for a local referendum on the issue.

If granted, it would be the first time an Italian city held a referendum on the building of a new mosque.