Donning the gay pride rainbow on their cheeks and holding banners which read "we want equality," "love counts" and "the law and its rights are for everybody," around 20,000 protestors gathered in Rome's famous Piazza del Popolo to protest government plans to implement a civil union bill which fails to recognize their right to legally marry and also adopt their partners' biological children.

Demonstrators say the proposal - which had been reined in in a bid to pass the senate, and is now being assessed by the lower house - only goes part of the way to securing rights for Italy's homosexual families.

"Today's demonstration is meant to show that the Italian people aren't happy with our parliament and government," Pietro Stramba-Badiale, spokesman for civil rights group ParteCivile, told DW.

But it was not only LGBTI activists, Stramba-Badiale added, who were out demonstrating on Saturday. Read more via DW