The mayor of Florence Sara Funaro has blasted the looming closure of the Italian city's US consulate as part of a sweeping reorganisation of the state department by the Trump administration. The major overhaul, which would see 10 embassies and 17 consulates shut down, was formally presented to congress by US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday.

Rubio has described the state department in its current form as "bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition.” The US consulate in Florence is included in the planned closures, a move strongly criticised by the city's mayor Sara Funaro who said her administration will do all that it can to contest the move.