Italian radio audiences will make it through the night with an exclusive selection of archived musical highlights, produced by BBC Radio 3 on behalf of the EBU.

From Thursday 7 November, Euroclassic Notturno will be broadcast on RAI Radio FD5 every night between the hours of midnight and 2:00 am (CET).

Listeners will get a taste of what lies in store during a preview session (31 October) featuring Brahms, Chopin, Byrd, Purcell, Schumann, Mahler and Satie. The recordings, which are mostly live, are not commercially available and come from the archives of the Radio Phonograph Union.

The programme will be distributed simultaneously via satellite among a dozen EBU Members participating in the initiative.

Euroradio Manager Pierre-Yves Tribolet says Euroclassic Notturno offers Euroradio Members the means to supplement their repertory by tapping into the extensive archives of the EBU Community.

"Since its launch in 1998, Euroclassic Notturno has been offering public service broadcasters across Europe a cost effective means to stretch their euro further," said Mr Tribolet. "Each night between midnight and dawn, a carefully planned sequence of music and silences is broadcast over the EBU satellite system in real time. Participating broadcasters add their own announcements at predetermined times according to the detailed programme plans which sent from London in advance."

Mr Tribolet says this allows individual stations to invest more in daytime broadcasting.

The regular archive programmes have included Otto Klemperer, Rafael Kubelik, Willem Mengelberg. Bartok, Kodaly, Stravinsky and Khataturian have all been heard performing their own music. A wide range of opera has included specially recorded operas with the top early music performers, as well as live operas including Wagner from the Sydney Opera House.