The ministry also reported 205 COVID-related deaths compared with 221 the day before.
A total 37,905 people have now died in Italy because of coronavirus, while 589,766 cases of the disease have been registered to date.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 7,558 new cases on Wednesday against 5,035 on Tuesday. The neighbouring Piedmont region was the second-worst affected, chalking up 2,827 cases.