Piazza Affari continues the session up like the rest of Europe thanks to a recovery in banking stocks after last week's debacle caused by political turmoil in France.

Some U.S. data in the afternoon, such as retail sales and industrial production for May, could give clues about the state of the economy and the future of interest rates. Meanwhile, U.S. index futures are essentially flat.

Around 12:25 p.m., the Ftse Mib is up 1.2 percent with volume under 800 million.

Among the stocks in focus:

The bank index rises 2.1% led by Unicredit, which advances 2.8%. The bank announced yesterday the Mrel requirements received from the Single Resolution Board, "which are largely met and confirm the bank's excellent capital position," comments Equita. Data that hold no surprises, adds another analyst.

In light is Recordati (+2.6 percent below early highs) after Bloomberg wrote last night that Kkr and Tpg would make preliminary proposals to acquire all or part of the stake held by Cvc, reigniting speculation about the fund's potential exit.

Continued buying on Leonardo (+3.3%), cues on Nexi (+2%), which yesterday announced a business partnership with Engineering related to digital banking services.

Pirelli gives up 1.6% as the EU antitrust investigation into the sector for possible competition law violations continues. Today it conducted an inspection at a consulting firm.

Heavy Moncler, which loses 2.9% after an estimate and target price cut by Oddo Bhf.

(Claudia Cristoferi, editing Gianluca Semeraro)