'Mafia boss' faces court in May

Bernardo Provenzano's capture spawned new investigations

The alleged head of the Sicilian mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, will make his first court appearance on 2 May after more than 40 years on the run.

Mr Provenzano, 73, will appear in a trial concerning Mafia murders committed in the 1980s, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reports.

He is being held in isolation at a high security jail in Terni, central Italy.

He was arrested last Tuesday at a small farmhouse near his home town of Corleone in Sicily.

Police had followed fresh laundry sent by his wife to the farmhouse.

The prison is denying him access to television, radio or newspapers.

Before his capture he had already been convicted in absentia of more than a dozen murders, and 10 more arrest warrants are being re-examined.

A dairy at the humble farmhouse where Provenzano was arrested

La Repubblica reported that he was denied a visit from a priest on Easter Sunday, but was granted a special Easter meal - ravioli, chicken, rabbit and a banana - prepared away from the main prison kitchen for security reasons.

Dozens of letters and documents discovered in the farmhouse where he was hiding are being deciphered.

Police say important sections of the documents are in code or use a series of numbers to disguise names.

As part of the tough prison regime reserved for Mafia convicts, he is under constant video surveillance and is only allowed contact with his lawyer, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports.