A town mayor in Italy's Sicily region has said he is stepping down after coming under fire for jumping the queue for coronavirus vaccinations.

“I spent a sleepless night thinking about this decision and I concluded that it is right for me to resign,” Nicolo Nicolosi, 78, told the ANSA news agency.

Nicolosi, mayor of Corleone, a small town near Palermo, said he was quitting “even if I insist that I made the right choice in getting vaccines for me and city councillors”.