  The dataset described in this paper contains daily data about COVID-19 cases
that occurred in Italy over the period from Jan. 28, 2020 to March 20, 2021,
divided into ten age classes of the population, the first class being 0-9
years, the tenth class being 90 years and over. The dataset contains eight
columns, namely: date (day), age class, number of new cases, number of newly
hospitalized patients, number of patients entering intensive care, number of
deceased patients, number of recovered patients, number of active infected
patients. This data has been officially released for research purposes by the
Italian authority for COVID-19 epidemiologic surveillance (Istituto Superiore
di Sanit\`a - ISS), upon formal request by the authors, in accordance with the
Ordonnance of the Chief of the Civil Protection Department n. 691 dated Aug. 4
2020. A separate file contains the numerosity of the population in each age
class, according to the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) data of the
resident population of Italy as of Jan. 2020. This data has potential use, for
instance, in epidemiologic studies of the effects of the COVID-19 contagion in
Italy, in mortality analysis by age class, and in the development and testing
of dynamical models of the contagion.
