Italy's government said Tuesday that Budapest authorities went "too far" in putting in chains an Italian woman awaiting trial for attacking neo-Nazis, as it summoned the Hungarian ambassador in protest.

Images of Ilaria Salis, 39, with her hands handcuffed and chained and her feet locked together as she sat in court on Monday were on the front pages of Italy's major newspapers on Tuesday, amid rising outrage over her case.

The teacher from Monza, near Milan, was arrested in Budapest in February last year following a counter demonstration against a neo-Nazi rally.

She was charged with three counts of attempted assault and accused of being part of an extreme left-wing organisation.

She denies the charges, which could see her jailed for up to 11 years.

"This time it seems to me it has gone too far," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI radio on Tuesday when asked about the chains.

While saying he did not want to interfere in Hungary's justice system, "treating a prisoner in that way really seems inappropriate, not in tune with our legal culture".

Tajani said the Hungarian ambassador had been summoned on Tuesday to explain, adding: "We are in the European Union and there are citizens' rights that must be respected."

He said he had previously spoken to Hungary's foreign minister about the case.

Salis's father has for months been campaigning for an intervention in the case by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, who has warm ties with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Roberto Salis said his daughter was treated in court on Monday "like an animal" -- but said she had previously been held in similar conditions, and Italian embassy officials had seen it.

He has said his daughter is living in "inhuman" conditions in a maximum security prison, in a cell filled with vermin, with shortages of food and hygiene products.

Meloni, the leader of the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, has long been close to Hungary's nationalist premier.

But they have diverged over Ukraine, with Rome sending money and weapons to Kyiv to help it defend itself against Russia's invasion, while Orban vetoed a multi-billion-euro EU aid package for Kyiv in December.

The Council of Europe, a rights body, has criticised Hungarian jails as among the most overcrowded on the continent.

Salis is due to stand trial on May 24.