A Reuters survey of 15 analysts had pointed to a 0.1% rise.

April's data was revised slightly to show a 0.8% drop, originally reported as -0.7%

In the March-to-May period, output in the euro zone's third largest economy was down a marginal 0.1% compared with the previous three months, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported.

In May, output of consumer goods, investment goods and intermediate goods all increased from the month before, partly offset by a sharp decline in output of energy products.

On a work-day-adjusted year-on-year basis, output in May was down 0.7%, following an unrevised 1.5% fall in April.

The Italian economy eked out growth of 0.1% in the first quarter from the previous three months, emerging from a shallow recession during the second half of last year. ISTAT has warned the second quarter could show the economy contracting again.

Italian industrial output fell by around a quarter during a steep double dip recession between 2008 and 2013, and has regained only a small part of that during a modest recovery in the subsequent years.