Two men were cleared of rape in Italy after judges ruled their victim was 'too masculine' and unattractive, it has been revealed.

The two 22-year-old men were originally cleared in 2017, but the reason for their ruling was only made public last week after the court of appeal ordered a retrial.

Judges said the accused had found the victim unattractive and one stored her number in his phone under 'Viking,' alluding to her masculine frame.

Hundreds gathered in demonstration against the decision outside the courthouse in Ancona in central Italy on Monday.

Hundreds of demonstrators lined the streets outside the court house in Ancona in central Italy on Monday

The protesters accused the judges of 'misogyny' after they issued a ruling which found the alleged rapists innocent based on evidence they found the victim looked like a 'viking'

'For shame!' shouted about 200 demonstrators, accusing the justice system of misogyny and a 'witch hunt.'

The men, both Peruvians, had initially been convicted in 2016 of raping a Peruvian woman in 2015, but the Ancona appeals court threw out the charges, saying the woman's story was not believable.

The woman had claimed one of the men raped her while the other stood guard, after they had spiked her drink with drugs.

Doctors said her injuries were consistent with rape, and found traces of a date rape drug in her blood.

But the judges ruled it was 'not possible to exclude the possibility that it was the alleged victim who organised the "exuberant" evening,' according to the reports.

Protesters gathered on the streets of Ancona to deplore the judges who had cleared the men on appeal

A demonstrator writes a placard deploring the justice system after details of the 2017 ruling were revealed on Friday

They said the man accused of rape 'didn't even like the girl, to the point of having stored her number in his phone under the nickname "Viking", an allusion to an anything but feminine figure, rather a masculine one. The photograph present in her file would appear to confirm this.'

The case will be reheard from scratch by a court in Perugia at at date yet to be determined.