Italian couple flush with victory after 20-year battle over ‘intolerably’ loud loo

A BITTER row between neighbours over a lavatory’s thunderous flush has finally been resolved after being bogged down for nearly 20 years in the Italian legal system.

The saga began in 2003 when four brothers installed a lavatory in a seaside apartment in Liguria’s north-western Golfo dei Poeti – or Gulf of Poets – so named because of the many writers who lived there, from Byron to Shelley and DH Lawrence.

There was nothing lyrical about the argument that ensued, however.

The husband and wife said the loo’s noisy flush kept them up at night.

Their bedstead was right up against the connecting wall and their bedroom was too small to allow for the furniture to be rearranged.

The pair took the case to a court in the city of La Spezia, saying that the noise of the flush was “intolerable”, but the complaint was rejected by a judge.

They referred the case to an appeal court in Genoa, which ordered an inspection of the two apartments and found that the flush was so loud that it “prejudiced the quality of life” of the couple.

Unhappy with that verdict, the four brothers challenged the court’s judgment, taking the case to the Supreme Court in Rome.

But judges there have now found in favour of the couple, ruling that the loud lavatory “infringed on their right to a good night’s sleep”.

The court ordered the brothers to pay their neighbours €500 (£420) compensation for every year since the complaint was first made in 2003 – amounting to €9,500.

One Italian newspaper, Il Giornale, said the story, while humorous in some respects, pointed to systemic failings. “This is the reality of the judiciary and the reason why the Italian justice system doesn’t work,” it said.

“In far less time than this case took, Albert Einstein wrote the theory of relativity, explaining the whole Universe.

“At the judicial level, we are a great big, gigantic clogged loo.”

Italy’s justice system is notoriously slow, with cases taking years and even decades to grind through the courts.