The F1 calendar will for the first time feature a Grand Prix in Rome and nineteen other races in 2013, Bernie Ecclestone has announced.

It has long been the ambition of the sport's chief executive to extend the schedule to 20 races, while it was already known that the Briton had approved a future street race in the Italian capital.

"Rome will come onto the calendar in 2013,” the 79-year-old is quoted as saying by the German-language Speedweek.  “We will have 20 races and the teams will be happy with it." 

It had been feared that the inauguration of a race in Rome would be to the detriment of Monza's historic Italian Grand Prix – a concern still shared by Letizia Moratti, mayor of the nearby Milan.

"I think competition between cities is right, but it is equally correct to respect their traditions," she is quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency.