Before the recent ECHR ruling, an immigrant from Egypt with an Italian father had filed a lawsuit in Italy in 2003 to order the removal of the crucifix from a public school.
This man was from the district of L'Aquila, which was hit by an earthquake earlier this year. Adel Smith, the man who filed this complaint, was also the president of the Union of Muslims of Italy.
Judge Mario Montanaro ruled that the cross should be removed because "the presence of the crucifix in classrooms communicates an implicit adherence to values that, in reality, are not the shared heritage of all citizens".
Two years later, there was another confrontation where he described the representation of Christ on the cross as a "miniature cadaver".
The Ministry of Education appealed against this sentence, arguing that the 1920s law is still in effect, and it had no plans to apply the court ruling in Italian schools. Later, another Italian judge overturned the previous judgment and declared that displaying the crucifix in the classroom was according to law.
The Muslim leader also objected vigorously to the presence of the crucifix in the hospital room in L'Aquila where his mother was being treated. When hospital officials refused to remove the crucifix, he tore it off the wall himself and threw it out of the window.
He told officials at San Salvatore Hospital that his mother "will not die in a room where there is a crucifix".
Mgr Giuseppe Betori told the Italian Bishops' Conference, "You can't chase crosses out of schools; the overwhelming majority of Italians want them, and consider them the strongest expression of the cultural roots of their civilisation."
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano described Mr Smith's gesture as "unbearable", and observed that the Muslim is giving rise to "one provocation after another, one offensive act after another, to the point of outrage".
The report also condemned the "intolerable and blasphemous attitude of an individual who never misses an opportunity to gain publicity by creating an awkward situation for those who profess their faith, and have distanced themselves from his provocative behaviour".
Legal expert Augusto Barbera, editor of a constitutional law journal, stated in Corriere della Sera that "there are laws on this issue and a judge cannot ignore them".
He also questioned this ruling and said: "We consider this sentence deeply flawed."
Later, a representative of the Muslim League in Italy confirmed and described Mr Smith's latest action - the forcible removal of the crucifix - as an act of "mad provocation".