Firefighters backed by aircraft battled the blazes in Portisco and Cannigione on the Mediterranean island's trendy northeastern coast, civil protection officials said.

Gabriel, who married on the island last year, owns a villa in Cannigione.

The flames, fanned by strong winds, consumed large areas of hillside forest and brush so rapidly that frightened holidaymakers abandoned nearby beaches, officials said.

Italy has been hit by hundreds of forest and brush fires in the past week, damaging large areas of Tuscany and Liguria and Campania in particular, and forcing the temporary evacuation of hundreds of people.

Many of the fires were reported by fire officials to have been started deliberately, and police have arrested several suspected arsonists.

TERRA.WIRE