A far-right sympathiser who injured six Africans during a violent revenge attack in the central Italian town of Macerata was on Wednesday sentenced to 12 years in jail, media reports said.

In this file handout photo taken and released by the Italian Carabinieri Press Office on February 3, 2018 shows Italian national Luca Traini arrested for suspected of wounding several foreign nationals in a drive-by shooting in Macerata. Traini was sentenced to 12 years in prison on October 3, 2018./AFP

Luca Traini, 28, embarked on his shooting spree on February 4, following the sordid murder of a young Italian woman allegedly at the hands of Nigerian drug dealers.

Pamela Mastropietro’s body was found dismembered and stuffed into suitcases days before Traini’s attack.

The two incidents, which occurred at the height of Italy’s tense electoral campaign, shook the country and laid bare its deep tensions surrounding immigration.

Pro-migrant demonstrations across Italy condemning the attack were in contrast to an outpouring of support for Traini who received messages of solidarity for his actions and, controversially, no politician paid a visit to his victims in hospital.

Traini was charged with attempted murder and racial hatred.

The former security guard admitted to the shooting but rejected allegations the attack was racially-motivated, insisting he wanted to target drug dealers.

His defence team had provided a psychiatric report which stated that Traini suffered from a personality disorder and that he was not completely aware of his actions at the time of the attack.