Eight wild boars were caught in an iconic Rome villa park on Wednesday.

The hungry animals were roaming free in the vast grounds of the Villa Doria Pamphili, a seventeenth-century villa, which boasts what is today the largest landscaped public park in Rome.

Animal rights activists protested the capture operation and tried to hinder it, without success.

One of the animals was put down, as it proved too aggressive to capture.

Italy has ordered a cull of increasingly rampant boars and is training hunters to shoot the animals, which they may then eat.

Entrances to the park were closed recently because of the safety risks posed by the boars.

Boars have become increasingly brazen in their forays into Italian cities, where they are frequently seen trotting unfazed through heavy traffic and rummaging through rubbish for food.

They have also caused significant damage to crops, Italian farmers say.