The European Commission (EC) has instructed Italy to try to recover €15m ($16.7m) in illegal state granted to ropax company Tirrenia di Navigazione.
A ruling on Monday found that public service compensation granted since 2009 to Tirrenia and later to its 2012 buyer, Vincenzo Onorato's Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione (CIN), was allowable.
But other measures were ruled incompatible with EU state aid rules.
