The southwestern region of Campania failed to address a garbage crisis, the EU's Court of Justice ruled on Thursday.
The court also fined Italy a daily amount of €120,000 (USD 130,000) until it fixes the situation.
The European Commission, which had taken the Italian authorities to court, reportedly wanted an even stiffer punishment.
The commission was pleading for a lump sum fine of more than €28 million euros (USD 30 million), plus a daily penalty of nearly €257,000 euros (USD 279,000).
The EU judges also said that the region was suffering from such a "large deficiency" in waste management that it could disrupt the waste disposal network of the whole country.
The Campania region has a chronic problem with illegal landfills and government waste regulations.
In fact, toxic waste has been buried in the area for decades, ever since the local Camorra mafia became a big player of the lucrative waste disposal business in the 1980s.
Companies paid criminals a fraction of the cost of official waste firms to dump the waste in fields, wells and lakes, according to the Italian government.
The Italian government has been accused by the EU of failing to manage a more sustainable way of waste disposal, despite repeated warnings that began in 2007.
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