An Italian father-of-four who vanished from his home near Pisa nearly a month ago has turned up – in an Edinburgh hospital some 1,200 miles away.
Salvatore Mannino is thought to have been unable to tell doctors who he was or how he came to be in the city.
The 52-year-old disappeared on 19 September after dropping his children off at school in the Italian town of Lajatico.
He arrived, seemingly without identification or memory, at the Royal Infirmary in the Scottish capital the next day. He was taken there after falling ill at the city’s St Giles Cathedral.
Italian and Scottish police were able to piece together that the cases were linked when officers in Pisa discovered Mr Mannino had looked at weather forecasts for Edinburgh before he vanished, it is reported. They alerted their Scottish counterparts who are understood to have recognised the description of the missing man’s arm tattoos.
Ivo Gronchi, the family’s lawyer, confirmed Mr Mannino was the mystery man.
He told The Times: “His wife and oldest son were reunited with him but he didn't know them. It was like they were total strangers to him.”
His wife Francesca has declined to offer any more details and has asked for privacy.
To add to the bizarre circumstances, investigators are said to have found a bag left at Mr Mannino's home with €10,300 (£9,050) in cash, along with a cryptic note written in numerical code and deciphered as saying “forgive me, I’m sorry”.
It has been reported he no longer communicates in Italian but in basic English.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “Police in Edinburgh are pleased to confirm that the identity of a man who took unwell within St Giles Cathedral on 20 September has now been established.
“Officers would like to thank the public and media who shared our appeals for information and assisted with this investigation.”
