A 103-year-old Italian woman was caught driving in the middle of the night without insurance and with an expired license while she was “going to meet friends” near Ferrara (north), the carabinieri announced in a press release received by AFP on Thursday.
It was 1 a.m. on the night of Sunday to Monday when the carabinieri received a call reporting a vehicle driving dangerously in the center of Bondeno, a town of 13,000 inhabitants in Emilia-Romagna.
The carabinieri patrol dispatched to the scene managed to spot the vehicle in question: “Their surprise was great when they discovered the year of birth of the driver: 1920, i.e. more than 103 years old but still capable of getting into a car and to arrive in Bondeno to meet friends”.
Given the late hour, the old lady, living in the region and who was driving with a license that had expired for two years, "was disoriented and continued to walk the same streets", according to the carabinieri.
“I will buy myself a Vespa or a scooter”
In Italy, from the age of 80, drivers must undergo a medical examination every two years to be able to renew their driving license.
The centenarian was fined and then taken home by the carabinieri.
But she has not resigned herself to staying at home after her misadventure: “I will buy myself a Vespa or a scooter,” Giuseppina Molinari, nicknamed Giose, told the local newspaper La Nuova Ferrara.
In the meantime, the single woman goes to her acquaintances' house by bike.
The story of the dynamic old lady aroused the sympathy of the mayor of Ferrara Alan Fabbri, himself a native of Bondeno: “I would give Giose a medal rather than a fine (…) Having such inner strength, it t's not common and it gives me hope for my own old age!
» he wrote on Facebook.