Gay couples granted honeymoons in Milan

Call & Call is following in the footsteps of some of the country’s big multinationals, including Citibank and Ikea, by giving the newlyweds the same 14-day paid honeymoon entitlement as heterosexual couples.

Umberto Costamagna, the company’s owner, clinched a deal with workers’ unions to implement the measure after a gay staff member asked for time off to get married in Germany.

Costamagna, a Catholic, joked that the move also has the blessing of his priest.

“I said: I will do this thing, absolve me! He replied ‘there’s nothing wrong with that’,” Corriere della Sera reported.

Call & Call employs 2,300 staff across six locations.

Italy currently does not recognize any type of same-sex union. Attempts to introduce legislation in 2007 failed, with the Roman Catholic Church being influential in blocking the move.

However, Giancarlo Galan, a lawmaker from the People of Freedom party, submitted a draft bill at the end of May to recognise same-sex unions, a day after France celebrated its first gay wedding.

"We are very behind in terms of civil rights in Italy," he said at the time.

Pope Francis also seems to be more conciliatory towards the matter than his predecessor, Benedict XVI. On Monday he told journalists: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?"