Zanardi suffered brain injuries and was placed in an induced coma after he was involved in a collision with a lorry during a charity handbike race near Siena.

Corriere di Bologna reported that he has received treatment at the Hyperbaric Centre of Ravenna as part of his ongoing recovery, with a second cycle scheduled for spring this year.

The director of the centre Pasquale Longobardi explained that the first cycle appeared to have gone well.

"Alex Zanardi is fine and the improvements are clear," Longobardi told Corriere di Bologna.

"He now will face a programme of rest and rehabilitation at home and then return to us in the spring."

Zanardi won six medals across the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics representing Italy.

He triumphed in the men's H4 road time trial and the H4 road race on his debut in the first of those Games, adding golds in the men's H5 road time trial and mixed team relay road cycling event four years later.

The 55-year-old featured in Formula One from 1991 until 1994, and made a brief return in 1999.

He was Championship Auto Racing Teams champion in 1997 and 1998, but had both of his legs amputated after a crash in 2001.