Man in Italy walks 280 miles after argument with wife to "clear his head"

The Proclaimers' song "500 Miles" is about a man's intense romantic devotion to someone. A love so powerful he vowed to walk 1,000 miles to demonstrate the sheer weight of it. While no one truly knows is Scottish duo Craig and Charlie Reid actually walked that much to prove their love to someone, we do know that there's a man in Italy who was willing to walk a quarter of that distance to save his marriage...or to avoid talking to his wife at all costs.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that an unnamed 48-year-old was found by police in a tiny town by the name of Fano near the Adriatic coastline. Despite being cold and weary, police reported that he had his wits about him. They initially accosted the man because of strict COVID-19 lockdown and curfew protocols and wanted to know what the man was doing outdoors at 2AM.

When they checked his identification they were shocked to discover that the man's place of residence was in Como, Italy. His wife had filed a missing person's report for the man about a week earlier.

"I came here on foot, I didn't use any transport." The man said. When asked what he was doing in Fano, he told them that he had an argument with his wife and he took a walk to clear his mind.

He concedes he didn't realize how far he had walked, and that he was able to get by from the charity of strangers who offered him food and drink along his way.

Authorities contacted his wife who traveled to Como to pick him up. He stayed in a hotel overnight in Fano, and his wife was handed the $485 nightly stay bill along with a fine for breaching the COVID-19 curfew rules.

Italy currently has implemented a 10pm to 5am curfew in an effort to help curb COVID-19 cases from spreading and many expressed how fortunate it was for the man to be spotted by officers because "had there been no police checks, who knows where he could've ended up."

It didn't take long for a bunch of memes surrounding the man's incredible story to start circulating social media.

Folks dubbed him "Italy's Forrest Gump", while others said that he would probably be forced to walk another 280 miles once his wife argued over the hotel bill with him.

Some people mentioned that they could completely understand the man's bewilderment and willingness to aimlessly walk as they are going through a divorce of their own and don't know the best course of action to withstand it.

And, because no thought is original, there were plenty of references to the popular '90s Proclaimers track complete with GIFs and references galore.

What do you think? Have you ever been faced with such an insurmountable seeming dilemma in your love life where all you want to do is just walk around because you don't know what else to do? Or do you find another way to cope, like have an affair, abuse your substance of choice or calmly try to discuss it?

This article originally appeared four years ago. It has since been updated.