Around 200 people working for the region welcomed the migrants arriving in Ravenna, with locals helping to set up makeshift arrival facilities alongside personnel from the prefect's office, Ravenna town council, security forces, the Red Cross and volunteers from the Civil Protection.

"All the personnel on duty -- healthcare staff, social workers, and cultural mediators -- are working with a profound sense of humanity and excellent organisation," Ravenna mayor Michele de Pascale wrote in a statement about the mass disembarkation.

Regional welfare councillor Igor Taruffi commented: "As always, we are ready to do our part to ensure that these people, forced to flee tragic situations, often war, can receive the aid they need, since this is Emilia-Romagna, a land that has solidarity and a welcoming spirit in its DNA."

The group of 336 people arrived one day later than originally expected due to poor weather conditions at sea.

'Incomprehensible' government actions

The disembarkation procedure was the the largest of its kind ever recorded in a single disembarking operation in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The Emilia-Romagna regional government meanwhile has criticized being the central government's choice of port in this case, as Ravenna is located far away from where the migrants first were rescued.

"Staying human and being organised are the two true keys to deal with an epochal phenomenon that instead at the national level is dealt with through a lack of humanity and -- as has become clear to all -- utter disorganisation," mayor de Pascale commented.

Regional welfare councillor Taruffi echoed those sentiments, saying: "I find the government's decision to continue to designate Ravenna as a port for disembarking migrants incomprehensible," adding that the time they spend at sea "is lengthened for those already suffering and in need of help."

Under Italian legislation introduced last year, migrant rescue vessels can only carry out one operation at a time and need to subsequently proceed directly to the port assigned by authorities, which often tends to be at a remote location from the original rescue site.

'Empty words in response to complex reality'

About a third of the migrants will be distributed throughout the region, in place like Bologna, Modena, Parma, Rimini and Ravenna to name a few.

Others will be taken to the Lombardy and Tuscany regions to be hosted there.

"The management of this situation is becoming an emergency on which we are asking the government to help and do its part," Taruffi added, highlighting that non of the measures introduced in the past year to curb migrant numbers had worked, with arrivals growing by 50% in 2023.

"This new year is beginning in the same way that the previous one ended, showing that the repeated statements of political parties now in the government on alleged naval blockades and a halt to migrant arrivals were simply empty words, political slogans dictated by temporary convenience. The reality is much more complex."