Italy's financial police have seized a further 20 million euros' worth of properties belonging to the family of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, bringing the total value of confiscated Libyan assets in Italy to over 1.3 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

Italy started seizing assets that it says belong to Gaddafi's family in March at the request of the International Criminal Court.

They include stakes in Italy's largest bank by assets UniCredit, oil and gas giant Eni, defence group Finmeccanica, carmaker Fiat, truckmaker Fiat Industrial and soccer club Juventus.

On Wednesday, May 16 police said they had also seized a hotel and fields in the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria.

Italy has said the assets were held by Libya's sovereign fund, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), on behalf of the Gaddafi family.

LIA says it is the legitimate owner of the assets and has lodged an appeal to recover them.