In a tit-for-tat move, Spain has introduced temporary border checks on visitors from Italy, which came into effect at midnight on Saturday.
The announcement came as a diplomatic row between the two European Union countries intensified, a week after Italy introduced similar restrictions on Spanish visitors.
This followed an influx of tens of thousands of migrants across the border from Morocco into the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta.
Rome then temporarily suspended its border-free Schengen agreement with Spain for a month to prevent any of the migrants from travelling to Italy.
Italians arriving at Barcelona airport were subject to random police checks after the controls were put into effect overnight, according to Spain’s state news agency EFE.
