Italy's highest court has legalised masturbating in public after a 69-year-old's sentence was overturned when he argued 'he only does it occasionally'.

The man, named only as Pietro L, was caught holding his penis outside the University of Catania in Sicily in front of female students and was jailed for three years.

His lawyers took the case all the way to the Supreme Court in Rome where his appeal was upheld citing a law introduced last year which decriminalised masturbating in public in front of women.

The man, named only as Pietro L, was caught holding his penis outside the University of Catania (pictured) in Sicily in front of female students and was jailed for three years

Pietro L argued he only 'occasionally' masturbated publicly and told the court it would have been hard to see him because he did it around dusk when there was 'reduced visibility', according to the.

His initial indecent behaviour sentence for taking out his penis and engaging in 'auto-eroticism' was a three-month jail sentence and a €3,420 fine, which was upheld initially by the Court of Appeal in Catania.

But the Supreme Court in the capital ruled: 'The act is no longer regarded as a crime by the law.'

The move has been slammed by politicians, who accused Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government of being pervert sympathisers.

Elvira Savino, an MP from the Forza Italia party, told the Telegraph: 'The Renzi government has never given equal opportunities much notice, but to save from the prison cells people who commit obscene acts in front of women is really unjustifiable.

'The government's law is an invitation to every maniac to molest women.'