THERE are 53 women in Italy who at this very moment are walking around with enormous smiles on their faces. In fact they are probably not walking at all but skipping, giving a cheery wave and a wink to passers-by and singing songs from the shows in booming, joyful voices.

On second thoughts however, these women are probably not walking or skipping anywhere. They probably haven't even left the house yet. In fact they are probably still in bed getting the sheets in a twist with a willing partner of the male persuasion.

But these sisters are not just doing it for themselves, they are doing it for all of us. Through their efforts we could all soon be enjoying much healthier sex lives and having more orgasms than we know what to do with.

These 53 lucky ladies have been taking part in a study conducted by the Centre for Sexological Research at the University of Catania in Italy (well, you didn't really expect a sexological centre to be based in Scunthorpe did you?).

All are under 40 and in long-term heterosexual relationships and all had been suffering from "sexual dysfunction" which made it difficult for them to get aroused and pretty much impossible for them to attain orgasm - problems that will ring a few bells with almost half the British female population who complain of similar sexual frustrations.

But, as these women soon discovered, sexual dysfunction can be "cured" quickly and effectively by none other than man's best friend - no, not his dog, his Viagra.

There is a growing body of evidence that female sexual dysfunction is a physical rather than a psychological problem and that it is caused primarily by a nitric oxide deficiency which can be chemically remedied.

So, while the rest of the world was creating great armies of human hat racks by dishing out these powerful pills only to men, those super Italian sexologists decided to check it out on the chicks too. And their results, reported in the latest edition of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, are astonishing.

Until now, evidence of the effects of this particular pill on women has been purely anecdotal, but this study shows for the first time that sexually dysfunctional women who are given Viagra have more sexual fantasies (several times a week instead of never), have sex more often (several times a week instead of once), are more likely to enjoy it (no more Meg Ryan-style mock moans), and have far more orgasms (at least once or twice a day).

It is perhaps not surprising then that after the study finished almost all the participants requested - nay, demanded - that they should be allowed to carry on taking the drug.

And who can blame them?

When many women are getting by on two orgasms a year, two orgasms a day seems like a pretty good reason for popping a few pills.

But what does this mean for us Brits? Will we women have to move en-masse to Italy for the chance of a decent bit of rumpy-pumpy? Will we have to turn to the black market for a bonk?

It seems not. Instead we will simply have to sprint down to our local doctor's surgery because Viagra could soon be available to women on the NHS.

The Italian study and the selfless work of its 53 willing guinea pigs (or should that be rabbits?) makes it far more likely that our own National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which sets out guidelines on prescribing drugs, will allow the NHS to prescribe Viagra for women as well as men.

Great news for the 50 per cent or so of women who complain of some sexual dysfunction, great news too of course for the men in their lives, and great news for bed spring manufacturers everywhere.