An Italian parish has been ordered by a court to pay €59,000 in damages to a woman who claimed that the loud pealing of bells at the church next to her home had caused her "moral and physical harm" for 23 years.

The woman, a retired teacher at Lavagna near Genoa named under Italian privacy laws only as Flora L, began her campaign against the Madonna del Carmine parish in 1985. Five years ago she resorted to legal action, taking Father Stefano Queirolo, the parish priest, to court.

Judge Pasquale Grasso, ruling in the woman's favour, ordered the parish not only to stop ringing the bells at at Madonna del Carmine but also to lower the level of the bells at the Church of Santo Stefano, a hundred metres away. Not all residents of Lavagna agreed with the ruling however.

Mauro Armanino, head of tourism on the local council, said "The sound of bells has marked the rhythm of life for generations, for believers and non believers alike. " He said he remembered that as a boy, "the sound of the bell ringing Ave Maria was the signal that it was time for me to return home. I ask myself - is it right to silence or punish this tradition?"

However lawyers for Flora L argued successfully that tests showed the church bells were three decibels above permitted noise levels. She told the court she suffered from continual headaches, and and that it had become "difficult and embarrassing" to have guests in her home. "The situation is insupportable" she said.

The judge said the church of Madonna del Carmine could ring its bells for Sunday mass and at Christmas and Easter - but only for twenty seconds. He said the fine was made up of 9000 Euros for "biological damage", 4000 Euros for "moral harm", and 46,000 for "injury to the right to a social life".

Church bells are rung in Italy to mark the hour as well as to summon worshippers to mass or other religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.