Efforts this autumn towards the joint management of migration are "having an effect" and Europe is sending out "crucial signals" on the issue, interior minister Luciana Lamorgese said on Monday.
"Migration is complex and cannot be solved from one moment to the next but gradually," Lamorgese told reporters during a visit to Bari."
"Our activities over the past two and a half months are having an effect..the problem is not solved but Europe is sending out crucial signals," she said.
Italy, Germany, France and Malta are part of a binding European Union redistribution accord for migrants saved at sea agreed in Malta in September. The four nations have taken part in ad-hoc redistribution pacts in repeated rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean.
"My vision is for a united Europe that shows solidarity and tackles its structural problems together," Lamorgese said.
The Italian interior ministry announced on Monday that it had instructed Spanish charity rescue ship Open Arms to take 62 rescued migrants to the southeast port of Taranto, about 100 kilometres south of Bari.
"We allocated the port of Taranto because they were in our territorial waters and above all because there were very rough seas," said Lamorgese.
A second Spanish charity rescue boat, the Aita Mar, was sent to the port of Pozzallo in Sicily with 78 migrants on board, according to the interior ministry.
The migrants would be redistributed among Germany, France and Malta, while Italy would also take in some of them, the interior ministry said.
