In a decision that could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe, the court ordered Italy to pay a $7,390 fine to a mother in northern Italy who fought for eight years to have crucifixes removed from her children's public school classrooms.

The Italian government said it would appeal.

A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture and a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity - not one of exclusion. He said a European court had no right intervening in such a profoundly Italian matter.

"It seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential, Lombardi said.

Crucifixes are common in Italian public schools as well as in courtrooms. Occasionally, legal cases arise; in one well-known case, a Muslim activist filed suit challenging the legality of the crucifixes in his son's elementary school in Ofena, about 90 miles east of Rome. Although he eventually lost, the case was an early shot in what has become a battle in Europe about whether there should be any religious symbols at all in European classrooms and other public places.

The court, based in Strasbourg, France, said the crucifix could be disturbing to non-Christian or atheist pupils, rejecting arguments by Italy's government that it was a national symbol of culture, history, identity, tolerance, and secularism. The court said secular, state-run schools must "observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education," where attendance is compulsory.

But while it fined the government, the judges stopped short of ordering Italy to remove the crucifixes, which are common in Italian public schools. The ruling can still be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights' Grand Chamber of 17 judges, whose decisions are binding.