Forgetful pensioner throws away old mattress – then calls cops after remembering she had £42,000 CASH stuffed inside it

A FORGETFUL pensioner chucked her old mattress away only to later call cops after remembering she had stuffed her life savings inside it.

The Italian woman, in her 80s, kept a whopping £42,000 in cash and jewellery inside the mattress before it was disposed by her caretaker.

But the pensioner, from Montebelluna near the northern city of Treviso, only remembered her fortune hours later, when the mattresses was already at a rubbish tip.

She called emergency services to get it back after "nearly having a heart attack", L'Unione Sarda reports.

Some Italian media claim the woman's housekeeper may have disposed of the mattress without letting her employer know.

A police official told The Times the pensioner was "rather distraught when she rang to ask our help, explaining she had remembered the mattress was full of money a few hours after she had it taken away."

The official added the woman concealed her savings in the mattress as she was "afraid of thieves" and "clearly" distrustful of banks - a common mindset among elder Italians.

The woman's mattress was found at the local tip just 30 minutes after cops and and local officials arrived at the tip, with all of the money still inside.

The mattress would've been destroyed if not found in time, the officer explained.

He added: "She was overjoyed when we found it.

"It looked as if she was ten years younger when she got the news."

The mistrust of banks among older Italians has roots in several historical, economic, and cultural factors.

Italy has experienced several high-profile banking scandals and failures over the years, which could have impacted people’s trust in financial institutions.

Cash has also been culturally significant in Italy, especially among the older population.

That's because Italy’s economy historically relied on small businesses and family-owned enterprises, where cash transactions were more common and seen as a safer, more straightforward way of handling finances. 

It comes after an Italian grandma died of a heart attack when her water company took £7,000 from her account, later demanding even more cash.

Caterina Giovinazzo, 88, collapsed and spent 40 days in intensive care in Sanremo shortly after the shock of seeing the amount.

The bill, totalling a shocking £13,333, was related to the period between August and October last year.

Half of it was paid automatically, with the rest sent to the woman as an outstanding debt, Italian media reported.

Caterina, from Camporosso, died last December on Christmas Eve, with more than 200 people attending her funeral.

Turns out the whopping amount was in fact a mistake from the grandmother's water provider Iren Group.

It was later found that the maximum consumption of the woman's home was a few cubic meters for a mere fee of £48.

Iren Group admitted it was their mistake and told local media: 'We will immediately contact the family to verify the reasons that produced this amount.

"We are very sorry for what happened to the lady.

"In the event, it is proven that the error was due to Iren, even so the customer will pay absolutely nothing.

"We will try to investigate how this situation happened."