By Machael Kirke, Mercatornet
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Shocking? But before you pass judgement on that you have to take on board the fact that Costanza is a working journalist fighting it out with the best of them on an Italian television channel, writing best-sellers at home and “submitting” to her husband as both of them raise their four kids.

She has no problem whatsoever declaring, “We are not equal to men. When you have to choose between what he likes and what you like, choose in his favour.” And this: “You must submit to him… When your husband tells you something, you should listen as if it were God speaking.”

As you might expect, a book expressing those ungarnished sentiments has also created a storm. An ultra politically correct Spanish government minister – a woman – wants it banned there. But apart from having a laugh all the way to the bank, Costanza is having a good laugh at the simpletons who are misreading her book and her intentions.

And what are her intentions? Basically, to express a vision inspired by St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (“Wives be subject to your husbands… Husbands, love your wives…”) and its high theological view of marriage as reflecting the union between Christ and the Church. But to bring this down to the mundane, sometimes tense, sometimes funny details of married life.