Rome:
An Italian hostage kidnapped by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in February last year in Southern Algeria was released on Tuesday and is in a hotel in Burkina Faso, officials said.
"Maria Sandra Mariani is free. I have just informed her relatives. I join them in their great satisfaction and relief at this magnificent news," Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi was quoted as saying in a statement.
He also voiced gratitude for "all those who contributed to this result" and told reporters that Mariani been held in "terrible conditions."
Mariani spoke to her family after being freed and was quoted by Italian media as telling them, "I am in heaven, I am finally free. I've thought of you a lot and I hug you all. I'm fine. Tomorrow morning I'll be in Italy."
Her father started crying on hearing the news and lawmakers in the Italian parliament burst out in a round of applause, media reports said.
"It's official. My daughter Maria Sandra is free and coming home soon," her father, Lido, said at his home in San Casciano Val di Pesa south of Florence.
Mariani said he had been told his daughter was "fine and in good health".
A security source in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso said: "She is here, she is safe in a hotel. She is well despite the shock of what she has experienced."
The high-level source said the 54-year-old would "probably" leave for Italy later today.
Mariani was travelling as a tourist with a driver and tour guide when she was kidnapped in the Sahara desert region of Southern Algeria on February 2.
The driver and guide were later released and said they had been kidnapped by "14 men riding in two Toyota trucks", a security source said at the time.
In an audio recording aired by Al-Arabiya television on February 18, Mariani's voice was heard saying in halting French that she was "being held by the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the Tarek ibn Zyad battalion".