Bagnone is a Tuscan hilltop town above La Spezia and has suffered two misfortunes in its long history. The first was to be the chosen home of the unpleasant and warlike XIV century Guelph family the Malaspina, and the second is to be the home of the lottery jackpot ticket. The newsagent who sold the winning ticket (himself in for around €7 million) said three people bought tickets. One man, a tractor driver, was seen to be behaving strangely while watching a football match shortly before the result was announced (the Superenalotto, needlessly complicated as only the Italians can make it, depends on football matches, selected towns, and numbers).
I felt genuinely sorry for the man. To win €1 million, or, given the price of houses and low yield on pension investments, €5 million, would be a great good fortune. But €148m? It looks to me as if it can only bring bad luck.
The sensible thing, and what I like to think I would do myself, is to give away €140 million. But if I actually had the cheque in my hands......
I felt genuinely sorry for the man. To win €1 million, or, given the price of houses and low yield on pension investments, €5 million, would be a great good fortune. But €148m? It looks to me as if it can only bring bad luck.
The sensible thing, and what I like to think I would do myself, is to give away €140 million. But if I actually had the cheque in my hands......
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