Rome, Sep 17 (IANS/EFE): Their romantic relationship ended years ago, but Italian fashion designer Stefano Gabbana, on the occasion of a festival in Milan, has wanted to express his undying love to his professional partner and former companion Domenico Dolce.

The love letter was published Wednesday by the Corriere della Sera newspaper and will be read at the Festival of Letters to be held in Milan at the end of the month.

It is a statement of the "unique feeling" that Gabbana said he felt for his partner, with whom he launched the Dolce & Gabbana fashion firm decades ago.

"The love I felt has only been transformed, continuing to give me so many beautiful sensations," says Gabbana in the letter.

In late 1999, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, who had already triumphed on catwalks worldwide, disclosed their relationship in the magazine Sette causing "a lot of noise", because making homosexual relationships public was not the norm at the time.

Three years later, the couple broke up, but still enjoy mutual affection and success together in the fashion world.

Now, 35 years after they first spoke on the phone, and even though they are no longer a couple, Gabbana published what he said is his first letter to Dolce.

"Words are more difficult, they have a deeper value that will be unique, as you are and you'll always be for me," he wrote.

"From nothing we have created together Dolce & Gabbana and with the strength of our love we have achieved all that we have. Supporting each other we were able to overcome many difficulties and many prejudices," says the designer.

"Even now, thanks to the unbreakable feeling that unites us, together we will continue to face joys and sorrows. You are my family," adds Gabbana.

The designer told Corriere della Sera Dolce was very shy, and did not know of the existence of this letter until now.