The rights of SAME SEX couples under EUROPEAN and ITALIAN LAW (I)

The article aims to illustrate the legal trend on the same sex couple’s rights in the European area. Starting with an analysis of the increasing urge of a legal recognition of same sex relations this article will first highlight the rising interest within the European boundaries to guarantee some form of legal protection at the international level in the ECHR system and in the EU legal system as well; in a second step, it will briefly present the leading cases ruled by the Court of ECHR, the ones ruled by the CJEU, and finally the ones ruled by Italian courts. Hence it will focus on the Italian legal system, and the Cirinnà Bill adopted in 2016. In the conclusion, the article draws some critical conclusions regarding the actual outcomes.