Rome - Liliana, now 39, fell in love with Carmela, 46, when she was still a teenager. They met in the local parish of their small village in southern Italy and have been together ever since.
They now share a small and tidy penthouse not far from Rome's Gemelli, the pope's hospital, which Carmela bought 11 years ago.
'This year I've finally finished paying back the mortgage,' Carmela says with a sigh of relief.
Carmela works as an apartment house manager. Her partner is a psychologist. As far as long-term relationships go, they do not get much better than this.
'We've been together for nearly 24 years, but our love is still going strong. The problem is that as far as the Italian state is concerned, it means nothing at all,' Liliana adds.
Carmela and Liliana face tremendous difficulties in Catholic Italy, one of the few countries in the European Union that still does not recognize same-sex unions.
Like thousands of other gay couples, they enjoy virtually no rights. The fact that they are not allowed to formalize their relationship means they cannot assist each other properly in times of need and cannot plan their financial future together.
'If Carmela falls ill, for example, I am not allowed to take time off work to look after her,' Liliana says.
Carmela's biggest concern is that Liliana would not be able to inherit her flat.
'I have two brothers and my father is still alive. If something were to happen to me, my family would become the legitimate owners of this flat and Liliana would be thrown out,' Carmela says.
All this could soon change, however.
Italy's centre-left government is about to bring a bill before parliament that would grant new rights to de-facto couples - including same-sex unions.
The bill aims to introduce so-called 'civil pacts of solidarity' (PACS), along the lines of similar legislation adopted by France in 1999.
According to the bill's draft, couples would be allowed to register their partnership at their local registrar's office and thus have access to a series of rights, including inheritance and a share of the departed partner's pension earnings.
Gays and lesbians would also be allowed to visit their partners in hospital without first having to seek the consent of the victim's relatives.
Plans by Romano Prodi's government to introduce PACS in Italy are being met with enormous resistance, particularly from the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly condemned them as 'pseudo- matrimony' and has been urging legislators to defend traditional families.
Earlier this week, Avvenire, the official daily of the Italian Bishops Conference, warned in an editorial that the bill under discussion represented a 'watershed that will have inevitable repercussions on the future of Italian politics.'
The government's plan has caused deep embarrassment among Catholic politicians supporting Prodi's centre-left coalition, who fear PACS might pose a threat to the traditional family.
'Italy is the land of the family. It is part of our heritage. We want to strengthen this institution, not weaken it,' Paola Binetti, a Catholic lawmaker and leading representative of the small but highly influential 'teodem' wing of Prodi's coalition told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.
Franco Grillini, a Democratic Left MP and campaigner for gay and lesbian rights, says the Vatican is exerting undue influence on Italian politics and points to a recent poll by daily Corriere della Sera, which shows nearly half of Italians, including many practising Catholics, supporting the regulation of same-sex unions.
'The problem is that the Church still wields a disproportionately strong influence on Italian politics. This is because politicians on both the left and right believe they cannot win an election without the backing of the Vatican,' Grillini told dpa.
The first legislation seeking to grant some rights to gay and lesbian couples in Italy dates back to 1986. But this is the first time that a government has agreed to push it through parliament.
'It's like the old battle for divorce and abortion all over again. In fact, homosexuality has finally become an open topic of debate. And the government can no longer afford to ignore the issue,' Grillini said.
Liliana, who considers herself a Catholic, says the Vatican should not be allowed to interfere with political decisions concerning the individual rights of people.
'What makes me mad is that religious leaders talk a lot about family values, but what they actually want is power,' she says.
Carmela and Liliana say they would be among the first to take advantage of the new law.
But they are not taking its approval for granted.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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