Hundreds more migrants reach Italy from Africa

* 1,300 people arrived in Lampedusa in past 24 hours

* More than 35,000 immigrants have reached Italy so far

ROME, May 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of immigrants from north Africa reached Italian shores in the last 24 hours, adding to a crisis that has raised tension between European governments and prompted plans to temporarily restore border controls.

Police said eight boats carrying around 1,300 people from Tunisia and Libya reached the tiny island of Lampedusa on Friday and overnight, bringing the total number of immigrants there to 1,800.

Lampedusa, roughly midway between Sicily and Tunisia, has been at the centre of an immigration crisis triggered by the upheavals in North Africa.

More than 35,000 Africans, including around 24,000 illegal immigrants from Tunisia, have reached it and other small Italian islands since the start of the year.

Thousands have been shipped to reception centres on the mainland since Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged at the end of March to clear Lampedusa, but the overloaded boats continue to arrive.

Lampedusa's regular population of about 5,000 has been at times outnumbered by migrants sleeping in improvised tent encampments dotted around the island, which in normal times lives from fishing and tourism.