The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 was first identified in China in December 2019. In just over five months, the virus affected over 4 million people and caused about 300,000 deaths. This study aimed to model new COVID-19 cases in Italy using a new curve. A new empirical curve is proposed to model the number of new cases of COVID-19. It resembles a known exponential growth curve which has a straight line as an exponent, but in the growth curve proposed, the exponent is a logistic curve multiplied for a straight line. This curve shows an initial phase, the expected exponential growth; then rises to the maximum value and finally reaches zero. We characterized the epidemic growth patterns for the entire Italian nation and for each of the 20 Italian regions. The estimated growth curve has been used to calculate the expected time of the beginning, the time related to peak, and the end of the epidemics. Our analysis explores the development of the epidemics in Italy and the impact of the containment measures. Data obtained are useful to forecast future scenario and the possible end of the outbreak.