Heavy snow in Italy
Cars make their way during a snowstorm in Porto Santo Stefano, 170km (106 miles) north of Rome and 11km (11 miles) from the Giglio Island February 10, 2012 Reuters

(Reuters) - Heavy snow fell across Italy on Saturday, blanketing the capital Rome, cutting off mountain villages and disrupting roads, railways and airports around the country.

The return within days of the heaviest snowfalls in Rome since the 1980s shut sites such as the Colosseum but gave tourists and residents another chance to see landmarks such as Saint Peter's Square and the Trevi fountain dusted with snow.

Rome's Fiumicino airport planned to cancel half of flights from 1600 GMT on Saturday, Italy's civil aviation authority Enac said in a statement. Several other airports across the country were closed or reducing operations.

Unusually heavy snow has been falling over much of Italy, causing disruption of train and road transport especially in mountainous regions where emergency services have been struggling to reach isolated villages.

On Saturday, buildings in several parts of the country were evacuated for fear that settled snow could cause them to collapse.