An Indian farm labourer working in Italy died Wednesday after being left by the road following an accident that severed his arm, a minister said, condemning an "act of barbarity".

Satnam Singh was injured on Monday while working on a farm in Latina, a rural area south of Rome that is home to tens of thousands of Indian migrant workers.

"The Indian agricultural worker who suffered a serious accident in the countryside of Latina and was abandoned in very serious conditions... has died," Labour Minister Marina Calderone told parliament.

"It was a true act of barbarity," she said, adding that authorities were investigating, and expressing hope that those who were responsible would be punished.

Singh, who was 30 or 31 and working without legal papers, was cutting hay when his arm was sliced off by a machine, according to the Flai CGIL trade union.

"Instead of being helped by his employers he was dumped like a bag of rubbish near his home," it said, likening the situation to a "horror film".

Police said they had been called by Singh's wife and friends, and an air ambulance was sent.

"He was flown to a hospital in Rome but he died (today) around midday," a police spokesman in Latina told AFP.

The centre-left Democratic Party condemned the man's treatment, in an area known for the exploitation of workers, as a "defeat for civilisation".

"The fight against gangmasters and for dignified and human living and working conditions must continue to be our priority," it said on X.