A 99-year-old Italian man has filed for a divorce from his 96-year-old wife after he discovered she had an affair … over 60 years ago.
The man, identified only as ‘Antonio C,’ discovered letters from more than six decades ago that revealed his wife, named as ‘Rosa C’ in court papers, had been unfaithful.
The couple are now set to become the oldest divorcees ever, a record nobody would wish to hold. They’ll be taking the title from Brits Bertie and Jessie Wood, both 98, who split in 2009 after 36 years of being together.
Antonio C and Rosa C have been married for even longer than the Woods – 77 years. They met in the 1930s while Antonio served as part of the Italian Carabinieri in Rosa’s native Naples.
However, since finding letters from his wife’s old flame in a chest of drawers just prior to Christmas, Antonio has decided to call time on the marriage, despite much reported pleading from Rosa. Italian news agency UPI blames the split on the couple’s southern blood.
The pair have had five kids, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild together.
Really? Ta;l about Italian pride!
Forgiveness is a personal choice one has to make. The old man could not barry his sward. After all this was in Italy, the Rome, base of Christianty. Ah, well
I think they should stay together but I guess it's never to late to move on and find REAL love for another 77 years. LOL
This is a sad story. But then again, you will never know the intensity of the 'blow ups' that followed after the discovery. Perhaps, she said some things that just made him ultimately believed that the 77 years that they were together 'felt like a fraud'. After 77 years, and the fact that it has occured many decades ago, marriage counseling could have possibly saved the marriage. You will never know what really happened. But then again, you also have to look at what the marriage was like before the discovery–maybe, they lived together with a loveless commitment, and just stayed married for one reason or another–many marriages in the past stayed intact for various reasons; economic dependency, societal, cultural and familial expectations, for instance. As a marriage therapist, I see many seemingly perfect couples in the outside, until they start talking about their issues–and I'd say, 'you would never have guessed'. Marriage is both beautiful and 'a cross to bear'. There is a thin line between love and resentment.