It’s official: for European women, Italian lovers are top of the heap.

They were ranked as the most attractive partners by a majority of the British, Spanish and Portuguese women aged between 18 and 35 in a survey of 50,000 people from seven countries across Europe run by the travel site Go Euro. 

But Italian women were overshadowed by their Spanish counterparts with men from Italy, France, Britain, Belgium, Germany and Portugal all saying they preferred women from Spain when it comes to choosing someone for a romantic date.

British men came second, surprisingly beating French lovers and undermining French romantic stereotypes.

British respondents fell in line with European trends with 29 percent of British women voting Italian men as top European lovers and 30 percent of British men also opting for a romantic date with a Spanish woman.

“It is obvious that Europeans like to flirt with other Europeans from all different nationalities,” comments Benjamin Bak, CEO and co-founder of social dating app Lovoo, used to collect the survey results.

"This is especially true during the summer months when many people use the app to flirt and meet people while travelling and on holiday."

Forty-five percent of Italian men liked Spanish women most, as did their European counterparts, and 43 percent of Italian women also said they preferred Spaniards.