Naples – The incredible story of Giuseppina Giugliano (29), who commutes 1600 kilometers by train from Naples to Milan and back every day, made waves in Italy. The strange story also found its way to Germany, numerous media reported, including BILD.
But the further the stories about Giuseppina’s extraordinary commuter life spread, the more doubts arise. In the meantime, users on social media are in agreement: this story cannot be true!
Background: Giuseppina had told the newspaper Il Giorno that she would get up at 3.30 a.m. every day to to take the train to work. It is 800 kilometers from Naples to Milan. In the evening she drives the 800 kilometers back, arriving home at 11 p.m. A life for work! A train journey takes four hours and twenty minutes.
But why does the employee of an art school do such a thing to herself?
There are doubts about Giuseppina’s train story
They are to blame too high rents, according to Giuseppina. In Milan, a two-room apartment would cost up to 1,800 euros a month – but her salary is only 1,165 euros. At the moment she is still living with her parents and thanks to the commute she can save a small part of her money.
According to Giuseppina, the train journeys only cost 400 euros a month. So little? Many users of social networks doubt this.
Journalists are waiting on the platform
After a fierce online debate about the power commuter broke out, the program “La Iene” on the TV station “Italia 1” got to the bottom of the whole thing.
Numerous editors made their way to the train station in Naples early in the morning for days, waiting at the train tracks – but Giuseppina does not appear once.
According to witnesses who comment in the report, the Italian commuted for just two days and then called in sick. A journalist from the TV show was able to confirm her release after doing his research. Giuseppina has been on leave since January 19 because she is caring for relatives – until August 2023.
She has to prove that she’s telling the truth
Reporters also visited the school in Milan where she works as a janitor. Students and teachers reported that they only saw Giuseppina in early September.
Doubts are growing, finally, the journalist Violetta Fortunati, who wrote the original article for Il Giorno, confirmed that in fact she never checked the fares. The editors of “Il Giorno” are behind them and calculate in another article that the price of 400 euros for a month’s commuting could actually add up with a few tricks and tips. However, only through frequent driver discounts and coupons.
The Internet keeps pushing Giuseppina to publish her ticket prices to prove she’s telling the truth.
But she doesn’t. Giuseppina has withdrawn, rejecting any further media inquiries. Does this reaction prove that she made the whole story up? In the end, only she knows the truth.