Italian farmer arrested after hidden camera catches him deliberately starting fire in countryside

A 50-year-old farmer has been arrested after hidden cameras caught him deliberately staring a fire in the Italian countryside.

The man was caught on film on Thursday near the town of Montesarchio in southern Italy, around 30 miles (48km) outside of Naples.

He was detained by the Carabinieri Forestry Corps later the same day.

The cameras were positioned following scientific analysis of the triggering points of recent fires in the Sannio Valley in the Campania region.

Meanwhile, fires are still raging elsewhere in Italy in northern Sardinia, where firefighters from the city of Sassari were busy trying to extinguish a large blaze that grew in the area of Aglientu-Trinità.

Several Canadair aerial firefighting planes were involved in controlling the conflagration.

Large fires have burned in several countries in Europe in recent weeks.

Some of the worst blazes have occurred in Greece, where thousands of people have fled wildfires burning out of control, including near the capital, Athens.