She was the first transsexual to be a candidate with the Right of Centre alliance, the first to lead an equal opportunity committee, the first to open a centre in the South of Italy for those suffering from identity issues, and the first transsexual to get her feminine name accepted on her ID Card.

Now she has become the first transsexual to be invested as a Dame in the Order of the Knights of Malta.

Martina Castellana is a dermatologist from Salerno and likes to surprise people.

Her Facebook profile recently put up photos taken at her investiture in Valletta.

Accompanied by her ‘Knight’, singer Sandro Giacobbe, she said that the investiture was an award for her career as a doctor and her work in the social and medical field.

Now, with the Cross of Malta around her neck, she is preparing a second book, following her autobiography, Sulla mia pelle published a year ago.