If this Italian divorce case were applied to wives in America... imagine the consequences:

An Italian woman whose angry husband refused for seven years to have sex with her was awarded divorce damages by Italy's high court.

Francesco launched his "sex strike" in the early 1990s to punish his wife, Piera, for taking sides against him in a family dispute over money, according to details of the case reported by local media.

They bitterly separated in 2000 and Francesco, still convinced that she was responsible for the broken marriage, refused to make support payments demanded by Italian courts and repeatedly appealed against them.

But the highest court ruled last week that Francesco's sexual punishment did not fit the crime, and doomed Piera to perpetual frustration.

"The refusal of affection or sexual attention must constitute the blame for the separation," the court ruled.

For Piera, "satisfaction in life (was) impossible ... along with fulfillment of marriage in its deepest sense." Beyond support payments, Francesco must pay court costs of several thousand euros.

This may be the first recorded case of a man withholding sex in a marriage. They didn't say whether the husband had gone to other sources for sexual fulfillment during his strike. One can only imagine he did because 1. This happened in Italy. 2. He's a guy.

Wives in America take note... withholding sex as a weapon could be costly for you if the same standards were made to apply here.