Flavio Rossi Albertini said Cospito, whose plight has spurred attacks on Italian diplomatic offices at home and abroad, had been moved from Sassari Prison to Opera Prison in the Lombardy capital.

"Cospito will be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Milan prison facility (SAI) in Opera in view of his state of health," Rossi Albertini said.

Prisoners suffering from serious pathologies qualify for the SAI.

On Sunday, Cospito's doctor Angelica Milia claimed that the detainee was at "risk of fibrillation", in view of his weight loss, and urged his transfer.

Cospito, 55, has lost more than 40kg in his hunger strike against the 41 bis jail regime that is normally reserved for mafia bosses.

The leader of Anarchists Federation (FAI) is the first Italian anarchist to be held under 41 bis and his supporters claim if he dies the State will have blood on its hands.

Rossi Albertini said on Monday his client will not agree to being force fed.

"He will not accept food and will definitely continue his hunger strike," he told reporters.

Cospito, who has lately taken to a wheelchair, slipped and fell in the shower and broke his nose last week.

A 30-day deadline for the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, to respond to the request by Cospito's defence counsel to revoke the four-year hard prison sentence imposed on him expires on February 12, Rossi Albertini also said Monday.

Five cars were set on fire in Rome on Monday in the latest attack in support of Cospito.

The five torched cars were bearing the logo of telecoms giant TIM and were outside the Telecom Italia HQ in Rome.

Graffiti against 41 bis were found nearby.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on Monday that It is right to raise attention on anarchists amid the wave of attacks.

"A rise in tension" on the part of the anarchists "must be followed by a rise in attention," Piantedosi said after attacks in Italy and abroad before Cospito was moved to the ICU unit.

"We are following these situations with great care", "in a way that is unrelated to the ongoing proceedings" on Cospito, "without, as Prime Minister Meloni said, any threats to the State resulting from this", Piantedosi said on the Tg4 programme 'Diario del giorno' on Rete 4.

Meloni has said Italy will stand firm in face of the attacks.

ANSA