The financial crisis is taking its toll on Italians, with the suicide rate rising between 20 and 30 percent over the past four years. But it was a letter to the newspaper, La Stampa, which helped save the life of one young businessman from Turin.
The 32 year old, a father of two, told the newspaper he was about to kill himself after being left crushed by the economic meltdown.
His story echoes the despair of many entrepreneurs and small business people across Italy.
In 2010, he was promised €200,000 of funding by the state, which the banks never paid. The money would have helped save his construction company from failure. Instead, he spent his life savings in the belief that the loan would eventually come.
It never did, and so he sold everything he owned and made his five staff redundant in order to pay suppliers. Over the past two years, he called on 13 banks for help, but all refused.
“Disappointed by the world and people, I have decided to end my life in protest against the Italian banking system,” he said in his letter.
La Stampa informed the police, who managed to reach the man and convince him not to take his life.
It would appear they were just in time, as a rope with a noose was found in his warehouse.