What was meant to be a family holiday in Italy turned into a nightmare for a 30-year-old Romanian tourist who was arrested on the very first day of his trip.

Ovidio A., from Iași, Romania, was taken into custody in Caorle, near Venice, after carabinieri mistook him for a wanted criminal with the same name. Instead of enjoying the seaside with his wife and daughters, he spent nearly a month behind bars in Pordenone prison before finally being released.

“The nightmare is over,” Ovidio told Corriere del Veneto upon his release. “He finally managed to kiss his wife and daughters,” added his lawyer, Stefano de Rosa, speaking to Agence France-Presse. His family had been waiting anxiously since his arrest on August 24.

The ordeal began when Ovidio checked into his hotel. His name triggered an alert, as it matched that of another Romanian who had been sentenced to two years in prison in Italy for grand theft. Shortly after breakfast on the first morning, police arrested him.

It took weeks for his lawyer to gather the necessary documents to prove the mistake. “The first trial for grand theft dated back to 2014, with a final conviction in 2020,” de Rosa explained. “But the computer systems of the police, the carabinieri, the courts, and the prisons are not connected. I had to ask each one separately to send me the records.”

After his release, Ovidio and his family decided to remain in Italy for a few more days to salvage part of their vacation before returning to Romania.