(CNN) -- Inter Milan have been hit with a €50,000 ($65,500) fine after their fans racially abused AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli during Sunday's derby match at the San Siro.
Balotelli was making just his fourth appearance for Milan against city rivals Inter, a team with which he spent four years between 2006 and 2010.
The sanction comes after Inter's fans chanted racial slurs at the 22-year-old Italy star, as well as displaying offensive banners and aiming a laser pen at the 22-year-old, who signed from English Premier League champiins Manchester City in January.
Balotelli himself was fined €10,000 ($13,000) for aiming a gesture at fans as he headed down the tunnel at the end of the 1-1 draw.
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A statement from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) cited chanting which started in the 11th minute and was repeated in the 15th, 16th and 19th minutes.
The punishment is also for similar chants directed at another player in the 30th and 44th minutes of the first half.
Reports suggested Inter fans waved inflatable bananas, although there was no evidence connecting the objects with any incidents of racism.
Inter were fined €15,000 ($19,000) earlier this month after their fans chanted racist abuse about Balotelli during a match with Chievo.
It is the second time in recent months an AC Milan player has been the target of abuse.
During an exhibition match with Fourth Division team Pro Patria in January, Ghanaian midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng walked off the pitch after he was subject to monkey chants.
Balotelli was at the center of an embarrassing incident for the AC Milan hierarchy just days after signing for the team.
Paolo Berlusconi, the club's vice president and younger brother of owner and former Italian prime minister Silvio, referred to Balotelli as "the family's little black boy."
Balotelli has made an instant impact on his return to Serie A, scoring four goals in four games as Milan climbed above Inter in the table and into fourth place.
The striker's time at Manchester City was dominated by controversy, including an altercation with manager Roberto Mancini on the club's training ground.
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Serie A side Lazio has already been punished four times in the 2012-13 season due to racist offenses by its fans in European matches.
"I don't care what game it is -- a friendly, Italian league or Champions League match -- I would walk off again," the Germany-born Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has represented Ghana, told CNN in an exclusive interview in January after he walked off in protest at racist abuse he was subjected to in a friendly match.
At the end of January, Boateng had a new teammate after AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi sanctioned a $30 million deal to sign striker Mario Balotelli from Manchester City. Berlusconi had previously branded Balotelli a "rotten apple."
La Stampa newspaper estimated that the signing of "Super Mario" could have been worth 400,000 votes in Berlusconi's bid for re-election in Italy back in February.
Before moving to England, the Italy-born Balotelli played for AC Milan's rivals Inter Milan, and during one Serie A match against Juventus the Turin club's fans once shouted: "There are no black Italians."
Soon after Balotelli returned to Italy, Inter Milan were fined $20,000 after racist chants from their fans about the AC Milan's striker at a match against Chievo. Inter play AC in the Milan derby on February 24.
"Berlusconi is an opportunist, who will say anything to win short-term support," Italian historian John Foot -- the author of the authoritative book on Italian football "Calcio" -- told CNN, in reference to the AC Milan owner's support for Boateng after the player walked off the pitch. "His comments are hypocritical at best, especially given his alliance with anti-immigrant and far-right parties, and his comments on Barack Obama (he called him 'sun-tanned')," added Foot. Berlusconi is pictured in the center, wearing a scarf.
Soon after Balotelli returned to Serie A, Berlusconi's brother Paolo -- during a political rally -- invited the public to an upcoming AC Milan match and was caught on camera -- the video was featured on the website of Italian newspaper La Repubblica -- saying: "OK, we are all off to see the family's little black boy." Paolo is pictured here, wearing glasses.
"I don't think you can run away, because then the team should have to forfeit the match," FIFA president Sepp Blatter told Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper. "This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium, we have to go against that. The only solution is to be very harsh with the sanctions (against racism) -- and the sanctions must be a deduction of points or something similar."
Two days after Boateng's walkoff, some sections of Lazio's crowd at Rome's Olympic Stadium were heard making monkey noises at Cagliari's Colombian striker Victor Ibarbo. However, the majority of the home crowd jeered and whistled to drown out the racists.
In 2010, Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o suffered racist abuse from Cagliari fans when playing for Inter Milan in a Serie A game. The Sardinian club was subsequently heavily fined.
In 2005 the Italian authorities banned Paolo di Canio -- then playing for Lazio -- and fined him almost $11,000 for his use of a straight-arm salute. "The sports court decided that it was an act of racism," the head of Italy's Observatory on Racism and Anti-racism in Football, Mauro Valeri, told CNN. "The ordinary court, however, did not intervene. For me it's racism, for the Ministry of the Interior, no." Di Canio is now manager of English club Swindon Town.
While English football embarked on a program of stadium reconstruction after the 1980s disasters at Bradford, Heysel (pictured) and Hillsborough, Italian football has been arguably hampered by a lack of stadium redevelopment.
Of Serie A's big clubs, only Juventus has built a new stadium in recent years.
The Italian Ministry of the Interior has introduced an identity document -- "tessera del tifoso" -- for supporters to counteract hooliganism. In order to buy match tickets, fans must present their document, with the system designed to ensure away fans can't buy "home" tickets for games.
Owen Neilson is writing a book about Italian football grounds, "Stadio: The Life and Death of Italian Football." "If a stadia revolution is undertaken in Italy -- as it has happened in England -- a layer of culture unique to Italy will be tarmacked over, with 'Juventus Stadium' type replacements," said Neilson. "Football will be changed again in favor of profit and central figures in a club's history, such as Giuseppe Meazza (who played for both AC Milan and Inter) or Romeo Menti (Vincenza), will be moved from the spotlight . That will be a real loss."
"The Football Italian Federation, FIFA and UEFA must empower fan-based initiatives that are capable of creating a culture of self-regulation," Professor Clifford Stott, who has advised governments and police forces internationally on crowd management policy and practice, told CNN.
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