London: The police in northern Italy have rescued a women who was kept a prisoner at her home by her husband for about 50 years, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

The woman, who was not allowed to come out of the house alone and not to speak with anyone else, raised an alarm when she was admitted to a hospital for heart problem in Trento, near her home in Val di Non town in northern Italy.

She told doctors that her jealous husband had kept her a prisoner in their home virtually since the day they married in 1958, the newspaper said.

The couple, who were not identified, are both in their seventies and are believed to have two grown-up children.

According to the woman, her husband used to lock her inside the house when he went out, and would not even let her watch the television all these years.