June 22 - The initial public offering of Italy's Salvatore Ferragamo has been covered more than twice, sources said on Wednesday, in what could be Italy's first listing this year and a boost for fragile European markets.

Salvatore Ferragamo store in Florida (Photo: Corbis)

The European market for new listings has had a tough year so far, with more than 15 deals pulled and others suffering from poor aftermarket performance.

With investors increasingly reluctant to take part in new offerings, many companies have struggled to attract enough orders to cover their books.

'The offer has been subscribed more than two times,' one source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

A second source confirmed demand was more than twice the offer.

The Italian maker of shoes and bags aims to raise up to 402 million euros from selling up to 25 percent of its main shareholder's shares, valuing it at up to 1.77 billion euros.

Books on the IPO are due to stay open until June 23, with trading set to start on June 29.

Ferragamo has set a price range of 8.0-10.5 euros per share. That puts it on a multiple of 16.4 to 21.3 times current-year forecast earnings.

At the bottom of the range, it comes at a discount to luxury peers such as LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Burberry Group Plc and Tod's SpA .

Global coordinators in the operation are Mediobanca , JP Morgan Chase & Co and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA unit Banca IMI.

(Reporting by Massimo Gaia and Elisa Anzolin; writing by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Andre Grenon)