Over 20 families were evacuated after a huge sinkhole opened up in a northwestern neighbourhood of Rome, swallowing several cars.

No injuries were reported, but the area remained closed off on Thursday morning after a large part of the ground collapsed shortly before 6pm on Wednesday. 

The sinkhole, measuring around ten metres deep, appeared in the Balduina district, a residential area northwest of Vatican City.

Seven parked cars were sucked into the chasm, and approximately 22 families evacuated from the residential area.

"In the last few days while [construction workers] were working, I felt the floor of the house tremble and was very worried," one resident told Rai News.