Subject: Italian lovers lure eavesdroppers

An amorous Italian couple's love-making became so noisy that a neighbour spread the word locally and even invited his friends to listen in, it's reported.

The story came to light after police were forced to intervene in a row at an apartment block in the northern town of Reggio Emilia, local paper Gazzetta di Reggio reports. "Their moments of intimacy, perhaps a bit too noisy, aroused the interest of the 'classic' nosy and meddling neighbour," the paper reports. "Not content with listening to the couple's effusions, he spread the word in the local bar and even invited his friends around to eavesdrop," it says.

The story reached its climax when the couple got wind of what their neighbour was doing and confronted him. A heated row ensued and the police were called. The neighbour is being investigated for possible disorderly conduct. The paper describes the tale as like something out of Boccaccio's Decameron, the classic medieval collection of love stories, many of them bawdy.