A few thousand people joined a march in the Italian capital, initially organised against far-right Meloni's planned reforms of the judiciary, which will be put to a referendum next weekend.

It also drew critics of the US-Israel war with Iran, with protesters decrying Meloni's closeness with US President Donald Trump, even if Rome is not directly involved in the conflict.

A small group set fire to posters showing Meloni and Trump together, an AFP photographer witnessed.

The crowd, the majority of them trade unionists, left-wing groups and students, held aloft banners declaring "No to the Meloni government", "No to war" and "No to the referendum", alongside a smattering of Cuban, Iranian and Palestinian flags.

"Meloni describes herself as a patriot, but this is the most subservient government, the most sycophantic of American interests in decades," protester Alessia Lotierzo, a 45-year-old from Rome, told AFP.

The reform being put to a referendum on March 22 and 23 would separate the functions of prosecutor and judge while also changing their oversight body.

Meloni says it is crucial to ensure the impartiality of magistrates, but critics decry it as interference by a government that has repeatedly criticised the judiciary for ruling against it.

Paolo Spena, 31, from the Communist Youth Front, told AFP at the protest that the reform was the latest sign of a "trend towards authoritarianism" of a government that has also tightened laws on protests.

Italy, an EU and NATO member, has sent defensive aid to Gulf nations attacked by Iran during the war, but Meloni has repeatedly said the country is not at war and will not be.