An Italian court on Wednesday recognized a gay couple as married for the first time in Italy, which does not have any form of official acknowledgement of same-sex unions.

The court in Grosseto in Tuscany ordered the city council to list the couple, who had their wedding in New York in 2012, as married in a ruling that was immediately hailed by gay rights campaigners as historic.

Aurelio Mancuso, head of Equality Italia, said, "They have managed to achieve what has always been denied by city authorities and courts - having their status as a couple married in a foreign country recognized."

AFP