An Italian judge was sentenced to a year in prison for refusing to sit in a courtroom with a crucifix on the wall, his lawyer said.

"I am disappointed by this decision," lawyer Dario Visconti said, adding that Judge Luigi Tosti would appeal the ruling, which also bars Tosti from serving for a year.

"Taking away crucifixes is not a way of offending Christians but only to make the courts truly neutral and secular," Visconti said.

"It's a struggle that Mr Tosti has been waging since 2003," Visconti added, noting that Tosti was appealing a separate seven-month prison sentence for the same reason.