Twenty-four Afghan children have been found living on the sidewalk of a railway station in the Italian capital and using the space under manhole covers to store the few possessions they had, newspapers reported.

The children, who spoke no Italian, were found by Italian police during an inspection of the city's railway stations and are now being kept at a holding centre. Newspaper reports said they appeared to be between 14 to 16 years in age.

"We want to understand how a thing like this could happen in our city," Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said in statement on Sunday after learning of the incident from the papers.

Initial reports that said the children slept in the area under manhole covers to keep warm shocked Italians.

"When we realised they were children, my heart leapt the way it would have for any father of a family that sees 14-year-old children sleeping in that state," rail police chief Carlo Casini was quoted as saying in La Repubblica daily.

The number of Afghan children in Rome has grown sharply, making them one of the biggest groups of unaccompanied minors in the city, the Save the Children agency said.

Reuters