Italy's parliament has approved same-sex civil unions and given some rights to unmarried heterosexual couples after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called a confidence vote to force the bill into law.
Italy is the last major Western country to legally recognise gay couples and an original draft law had to be heavily diluted due to divisions in Renzi's ruling majority.
The bill had faced stiff opposition from Catholic groups who said it went too far, while gay activists said it was too timid.
While parliament was voting on Wednesday, gay rights groups gathered outside with a banner reading: "This is just the beginning."
Renzi promised to prioritise legislation for gay rights when he took office in early 2014.
RELATED READING
Gay marriage plebiscite cost to blow out
The bill, originally presented in 2013, cleared its final real hurdle earlier on Wednesday with the confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies, which passed it by 369 votes to 193.
The chamber then rubber-stamped the bill with a final ballot.
The bill gives gay couples the right to share a surname, draw on their partner's pension when they die and inherit each other's assets in the same way as married people.
Co-habiting unmarried couples get the right to be treated as each other's next of kin if one partner is taken ill, dies or is imprisoned and some rights to a shared home.
Both homosexual and heterosexual couples can also claim alimony at the end of a relationship.
The stepchild adoption clause was the most disputed aspect of the bill, stoking outrage among social conservatives who see it as a step towards legalising surrogate motherhood, which is illegal.
The new legislation allows courts to grant homosexuals parental rights regarding each other's children in certain circumstances.
A survey shows the move reflect the views of most Italians but shortly after the vote, conservative opposition parties said they want a referendum to cancel the new legislation.
