ITALY’S largest mafia trial in more than 30 years is set to begin today, as prosecutors hope to strike a blow to the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate, whose tentacles reach worldwide.

More than 350 alleged members of the mafia and the politicians, lawyers, businessmen and others accused of enabling them face a judge in a huge, specially converted courtroom in the southern Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme, in the heart of ‘Ndrangheta territory.