A message in a bottle is sometimes on the road for decades before someone finds it. It took eleven years for this one: A bottle with a letter in it was found during clean-up work in Lake Garda. According to the date on the paper, she was thrown into the lake in August 2012.
Apparently she came from a couple from Germany, at least the letter was signed by “Sabrina and Dennis from Hamburg”. With the letter, the two wished each other happiness and health – and Lake Garda that it may “always remain so beautiful and clear”. It also showed that the text was written in Malcesine, a small northern Italian municipality (about 3500 inhabitants) on the eastern shore of the lake.
There was no more information – but the municipal administration of the Italian holiday resort, which is particularly popular with German holidaymakers, wanted to know more about it and went in search of Sabrina and Dennis. The two tourists should be found via the Internet. The administration wanted to invite them back to Malcesine: “We thought it would be really nice to find these two people again. We want to give Sabrina and Dennis a holiday that they will not forget,” said tourism manager Sara Pallua, according to the Italian media.
In the local media and social networks, the search drew the first circles, at the latest when the Italian news agency Ansa took up the topic, the matter first became known throughout the country and then internationally. And indeed, Sabrina and Dennis found out about it.
The good news: The couple, aged 37 and 40, are still together. Both of them now have a two-year-old son together. They often vacationed in Malcesine: in 2011 they spent their honeymoon there, then they visited the place three more times. The couple from Hamburg came up with the idea of the message in a bottle “one evening after a romantic dinner by the lake,” as Sabrina says.
They happily accept the invitation from the Italian community, and they expect to return to Malcesine for Valentine’s Day. Tourism Councilor Pallua has promised them an enticing program with “with a free night in a hotel, a tasting of our typical products, a cable car ride up Monte Baldo and a visit to the castle”. However, the local politician couldn’t help but raise a little finger: They want to look for “more environmentally friendly solutions for all other lovers who want to exchange their promises of love with a view of Lake Garda”.
Sources: “Repubblica” / “T-Online” / Municipality of Malcesine on Instagram
