An Italian police aircraft carrying 19 Eritreans has taken off from Rome's Ciampino airport bringing the first refugees to Sweden under the EU's new resettlement programme.
The scheme is aimed at redistributing asylum seekers from hard-hit receiving countries.
The aircraft carrying the refugees was bound for Kallax Airport in Lulea, in the far north of Sweden.
Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano, who was on hand to bid the Eritreans farewell, said the transfer is proof Europe has finally changed its migration policy.
Italy for years has demanded Europe shoulder more of the burden of the continent's refugee crisis.
Even though most migrants prefer to pass through Italy en route to destinations further north, Mr Alfano has been keen to show off the first flight to try to quieten anti-immigrant critics at home.
The Swedish immigration agency said the migrants have a chance of being granted asylum.
Eritrea, an authoritarian north-east African country, is one of the major origins of people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
The Eritreans, 14 men and five women aged 25 to 40, represent the first of 160,000 people expected to be resettled throughout Europe as part of the EU's new redistribution programme. They smiled and waved as they climbed up the stairs to the aircraft as officials from the UN refugee agency and Red Cross waved and bid them farewell from the tarmac.
Mr Alfano said at least 100 more refugees from Italian centres would be resettled in Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere in the coming weeks.
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