A bitter pill to swallow: A divorced father has been told by a court that he can pay child support to his ex-wife in the form of pizza despite her angry protestations (picture posed by model)

A divorced father has been told he can pay child support to his ex-wife – with pizza.

The man, who just so happens to be a pizza chef, had been ordered to pay £230 a month for the couple's eldest daughter.

But he chose instead to send his own creations to his ex-wife to the value of the agreed settlement because he couldn't afford the cash payment.

After a while, the mother grew sick of the deliveries and took the 50-year-old, named only as NT, to court.

But judge in Padua, Italy, ruled in the father's favour because he didn't earn enough to keep up the payments.

The judge, Chiara Bitozzi, said that it was acceptable to carry on paying the child support in the form of pizza, it was reported by The Local which cited Il Gazzettino.

Neither Bitozzi or the man's lawyer, Sonia Della Greca, were available for comment.

The case is not the first in Italy to raise eyebrows.

Last month, a divorced Italian father was ordered to pay child maintenance for his 28-year-old student son in the latest example of the country's problem with 'big babies' who won't leave the nest

The middle-aged man was at a civil court in Modena, northern Italy to challenge a condition of his divorce settlement which stated he should pay for his grown-up child's education.

The son had reportedly completed a degree in literature after taking 'several years' longer than expected to do so.

But the judge said the young man's course should be supported despite the father's claim he 'does not deserve any further financial support, having made no effort to find work to support himself.'

A judge in Padua (above) ruled in the father's favour because he didn't earn enough to keep up the payments

Last year, an Italian octogenarian tried to divorce her husband because they were not having enough sex.

The 84-year-old woman from Scafati in Campania, southern Italy, filed for divorce from her 88-year-old husband on the grounds of sexual unfulfillment.

She told her lawyer that her elderly husband only wants to have sex with her twice a month, which is not enough for her.