The most affected area was the northwestern region of Aosta Valley, with six people reported dead.

Rescue crews launched a search near the resort of Courmayeur for four people who had failed to return to their hotel after skiing off-piste.

The search was abandoned overnight on Sunday.

Using sniffer dogs and helicopters, Italian alpine rescue workers found the bodies of three of the skiers on Monday morning and the body of the fourth later in the day.

The skiers were identified by Italian rescuers as Matthew Ziegler, 43, a British national with a Swiss passport; Katherine Clarke, 39, born in New Zealand and living in London; Nicolas Bruno Vergez, 36, French; and Wespazjan Wisla, 38, a Pole living in France.

Two other avalanche victims were found dead earlier on Sunday in the same region.

Meanwhile, an avalanche in Bolzano, near the Austrian border, killed an 18-year-old skier and another avalanche in neighbouring Lombardy killed a Belgian snowboarder.

In the same region, 10 skiers aged 17 to 59 were rescued after being hit by an avalanche.