(CNN) More than half of the population of the city of Brindisi, southern Italy, were evacuated from their homes Sunday due to an unexploded World War II bomb, according to authorities.

Some 54,000 people of a total 80,000 population were ordered to leave their homes at 8 a.m. (2 a.m. ET), said Francesca Cuomo, a press officer at Brindisi City Hall.

This is the first WWII bomb found in the city since 1945, and the evacuation is the largest undertaken in Italy since the end of the war, she added.

The British-made bomb -- which measures more than three feet in length and weighs 500 pounds -- was dropped in 1941.

It had lain untouched until it was found on November 2 by builders working to expand a local cinema.

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