A big hand: mamma reassures her gay, pasta-loving son

Snaps to Findus Italia, which this week unveiled an enlightened new ad campaign featuring a gay couple.

This is quite a big deal in super-Catholic Italy, which is also the home of Barilla pasta - whose charming MD last year made a point of saying it would never use gay ­people in ads.

In the ad, three people prepare dinner and chat, before one tells his mum his cooking skills aren’t the only surprise. “Gianni isn’t only my flatmate, he’s my partner,” he adds. But this is no shock to mamma, who reassures him with a ­gentle pat on the hand.

In fact, hands are all we see: this is hardly Blue is the Warmest Colour. The actors’ faces aren’t shown -which suggests they may struggle to land future roles as, say, heterosexual ­biscotti fans.

Still, it’s a start. So where’s out UK equivalent? Could it be time for Dolmio man to come out?