Man fined after walking 280 miles to calm down following row with wife during lockdown

An Italian man exasperated by an argument with his wife walked for 280 miles to calm down before being caught by police enforcing the country’s strict lockdown.

The unnamed 48-year-old reportedly hiked for a week in an attempt to soothe his anger after he had fallen out with his partner.

Despite living in Como, in the far north of Italy on the Swiss border, the man managed to make it all the way to Fano, a small town on the Adriatic coast some 280 miles south.

At first, the police officers who picked up the man at 2am for breaching Italy’s lockdown curfew rules did not believe he could have walked so far, but after checking his name found his wife had indeed reported him as missing back in Como a week earlier.

Reports in the Italian media state the man was cold and tired, but appeared lucid, although he admitted he had not realised quite how far he had gone during his long walk to clear his head.

The man said he had been given food by strangers during his epic hike, during which he had averaged about 40 miles a day.

“I’m fine, just a little tired,” he told the officers, reported the local newspaper in Fano, Il Resto del Carlino.

After he wife came to collect him, she confirmed he had indeed stormed out of their home in Como after a row a week ago and had not been seen since.

However, as well as picking up her husband’s overnight hotel bill in Fano, she was also told to pay the €400 fine he had been given by police for breaching the Covid overnight curfew.

Italy imposed a nationwide curfew from 10pm to 5am in an effort to clamp down on its second wave of coronavirus.

Inside areas designated red zones, where the virus is most prevalent, Italians are only permitted to walk or bike rides outside if they stay near their homes, although no specific distance has given in the regulations.