Italian family's triple suicide 'blamed on government austerity measures which left them in huge debt'

Couple hanged themselves at their home in Italian seaside town

On hearing the news her elderly brother threw himself into the sea

The family tragedy has triggered an outpouring of grief around the country

Three members of the same Italian family have taken their own lives after state-imposed austerity measures and mounting debts left them believing there was no way out.
Anna-Maria and Romeo Dionisi hanged themselves at their home in the seaside town of Civitanova on the Adriatic coast, becoming the latest victims of the economic crisis.
Mr Dionisi, 63, a former builder, had lost his job and was unable to draw a pension after the state raised the retirement age by five years, 16 months ago, as part of a series of Europe-imposed cuts.

Pensioners in Italy have been particularly badly hit by the austerity measures brought in by Mario Monti's (pictured) government

The couple were not able to get by on Mrs Dionisi’s pension of less than almost £500 a month and had fallen months behind on their rent and bills.
On hearing the news, Mrs Dionisi’s elderly brother, Giuseppe Sopranzi, 78, who lived next door to the couple, threw himself into the sea.
Although many are struggling in Italy as the economy falters and cuts bite, the family tragedy has struck a nerve - triggering an outpouring of grief around the entire country.
At their funeral on Saturday politicians were mobbed by furious friends and family who denouced the deaths as ‘murder by the state’.

 

The mayor of Civitanova Tommaso Corvatta told the newspaper La Stampa: ‘Such was their dignity that this family preferred to end it all in tragedy, rather than ask for help.
‘In another place a similar situation would have driven people to crime.

‘When politicians debate economic policy in the great palaces of state they need to think on the people like this at the other end of the chain, and remember that.’
The shoe company where Mr Dionisi worked as a clerk had shut five years ago and he had struggled lately to find work.

Tommaso Corvatta, the mayor of Civitanova (pictured) has said: 'Such was their dignity that this family preferred to end it all in tragedy, rather than ask for help'

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The couple owed around £15,000 in taxes and feared their car and furniture would be repossessed.
They had become ‘desperate’, local residents said. Mrs Dionisi had completely given up hope, and was very depressed.

Neighbours who discovered the couple’s bodies also found a note asking for forgiveness.
Mr Sopranzi, a former clerk in a shoe factory, returned from a walk on the beach to find police outside the building. When he heard what his beloved sister had done he cast himself into the harbour.
Attempts to revive him failed.
Suicides have become increasingly common in the recession, Italy’s longest for 20 years.
Pensioners have been particularly badly hit by the austerity measures brought in by Mario Monti’s government. Measures to help some 40,000 of those left without pensions have been brought in but the overall number affected is at least 150,000.