European Central Bank governing council member Fabio Panetta said on Wednesday the ECB is probably heading for a period of monetary easing to reflect falling inflation and sluggish growth.

"The end of the tightening has already started," the governor of the Bank of Italy said at a conference in the Adriatic coastal town of Rimini, pointing out that the bank had lowered rates by 25 basis points in June.

"I think it's reasonable to expect that from here on we will be going into a phase of easing monetary conditions because inflation is falling and the world economy is slowing down," Panetta said.

(Reporting by Stefano Bernabei, writing by Gavin Jones)