European Parliament President Roberta Metsola's has been recognised for her commitment to support anti-corruption efforts in Europe during a ceremony in Sicily on Tuesday.

The Nationalist MEP was awarded with a medal from Palermo that was presented by mayor Roberto Lagalla and Maria Falcone, the president of the Fondazione Falcone and sister of the late magistrate Giovanni Falcone. 

Giovanni Falcone was killed with a bomb by the Sicilian mafia in 1992.

The explosion had ripped through a stretch of motorway near Palermo and was registered by experts monitoring volcanic tremors from Etna on the other side of the island.

The explosion, which had sent shockwaves across Italy, also signalled the start of the mafia's decline.

Roberta Metsola with the medal from Palermo.

The award was given to Metsola at Parco Jung, where she paid homage to late magistrate Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. Borsellino was also murdered by the mafia in 1992. 

She said the fight against organised crime is everyone's battle.

“It knows no territorial limits. The only way to destroy these criminal networks is to cultivate a strong sense of personal and institutional responsibility and build a common front. The European Parliament understands this. This is why we have made the fight against organised crime a political priority.” 

Metsola referred to the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia saying that like Falcone and Borsellino, she put the defense of truth and justice before her life.

"They made the corrupt, the dishonest and the mediocre tremble. And they still do it.”