Sisters' plea to Bank of Italy: 158 million lire, zero euros

Two sisters found over 158 million lira, the old Italian currency, in their grandfather's basement after their father's death. In conversion, it's over 118,000 Canadian dollars. Residents of Genoa decided to exchange the old banknotes for the EU currency. Contact with the Bank of Italy was necessary. Did it work?

Focus.de reports that the two sisters found 158 million old lire in their grandfather's basement. However, the Italian central bank refuses to exchange this amount for euros.

According to "Südtirolnews," cited by the German portal, two sisters in Genoa found 158 million old lire in their deceased grandfather's basement, equivalent to approximately 118,000 Canadian dollars.

After the death of their father, who inherited the grandfather's apartment, the women decided to clean the basement. During the cleaning, they came across large packages of old lira among crates, suitcases, and an old dresser, which reads on focus.de.

However, the joy did not last long. The sisters turned to the Italian central bank with a request to exchange the old banknotes for euros. The bank, as reported by "radiolina.it," disappointed the sisters by informing them that an exchange more than ten years after the introduction of the euro was no longer possible.

According to "südtirolnews.it", the sisters do not intend to accept this. They plan to write a letter to the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta. The women hope that something can be done about this. Otherwise, the savings of many grandparents and parents who saved lira throughout their lives will be in vain.

The euro was introduced on January 1, 1999, as a cashless currency in participating countries of the European Union. However, euro banknotes and coins only appeared on January 1, 2002, enabling the physical use of the euro as a means of payment in some EU countries.