The club’s hardcore “ultra” fans plastered stickers of holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing a Roma guernsey on the walls of the south end (Curva Sud) of Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, normally reserved for Roma fans, during a game against Cagliari.

The stickers were accompanied by anti-Semitic slogans, such as “Roma fans are Jews”.

The incident caused an uproar in Italy and beyond, especially from Jewish groups.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella was quick to condemn the group’s behaviour.

“The face and pages of the diary of Anne Frank, her story of suffering and her death at the hands of Nazi barbarism, moved the world,” Mr Mattarella said.

“Using her image as a sign of insult and threat - in addition to being inhuman - is alarming for our country, which was infected 80 years ago by the obtuse cruelty of anti-Semitism.”

With ANSA