Italian newlywed who lost her camera memory card while on honeymoon has …

Australian man Richard Pussell found couple’s lost camera memory card
‘Mystery’ pair identified as Mariangela and Angelo Benetti from Milan
Card contained more than 1600 photos of their Australian honeymoon
Mr Pussell used Facebook to track down the couple and return the photos

By
Sarah Michael
and Emily Crane

Published:

19:12 EST, 15 May 2014

|
Updated:

20:27 EST, 15 May 2014

A ‘mystery’ Italian couple have been identified and reunited with their lost honeymoon photos after an Australian man found their memory card and tracked them down using Facebook.

Mariangela Benetti, 33, from near Milan said Sydney Aquarium manager Richard Pussell was ‘her angel’ after his social media campaign returned her 1600 romantic happy snaps that had been missing for two years.

Mrs Benetti’s husband Angelo, 33, lost the couple’s camera memory card on the last day of their Australian honeymoon in 2012.

Mariangela and Angelo Benetti, from near Milan, married in 2012 but lost their camera memory card on the last day of their Australian honeymoon

Sydney Aquarium manager Richard Pussell was carrying out a routine check of lost property on Tuesday when he found the card

‘I always think maybe someone will find them but it’s incredible,’ she told MailOnline.

‘Because in Italy I think this kind of thing doesn’t happen.

‘Maybe if somebody find a card they just put it in the [lost property] basket and forget.’

Mr Pussell was carrying out a routine check of lost property on Tuesday when he found the camera card.

Mrs Benetti said she was initially mad at her husband for losing the pictures.

‘I became angry because we are in Italy and Australia is too far for us. You travel to there once in a lifetime,’ she said.

‘I lost all of the memories of the trip on the last day of the trip.’

Mrs Benetti said after a busy day of sightseeing they noticed their SD card was missing but they failed to track it down.

Mr Pussell couldn’t bring himself to delete the photos so he tracked the couple down on Facebook

Mrs Benetti said she was initially mad at her husband for losing the pictures

‘We were in Sydney and we went to the aquarium, Bondi Beach, we went to Opera House so we didn’t know where it was lost,’ she told MailOnline.

‘We went to aquarium to find it but maybe they did not clean the basket.

‘The next day I must travel to Fiji islands so I did not leave my contact information.’

Mr and Mrs Benetti, who work for the same iron and steel flange manufacturer, married in Italy on June 23 2012 and they went on a four week honeymoon around Australia, visiting Darwin, Katherine George, Alice Springs, Uluru, Cairns and Sydney before travelling to Fiji.

Mrs Benetti gave birth to her first child, daughter Arianna, on April 14 this year and exactly one month later she got the news that her missing photos were found which she described as a ‘really nice gift’.

Her friend saw Mr Pussell’s photo on Facebook, which has been shared more than 166,000 times, and alerted her that her missing SD card had been found.

Mrs Benetti gave birth to her first child, daughter Arianna, on April 14 this year and exactly one month later she got the news that her missing photos were found

Mr and Mrs Benetti, who work for the same iron and steel flange manufacturer near Milan, married in Italy on June 23 2012

Ms Benetti could not message Mr Pussell because of his Facebook account settings so she messaged his friend Ben Spalding, who used to work with Mr Pussell in France.

Mr Pussell told MailOnline he got a call from Mr Spalding at 11pm on Thursday night saying the couple had been found.

He said he was amazed at the response his post received.

‘I had no idea it would go as worldwide as it did,’ he said.

‘They always took photos of the Italian plaques, Italian things so I sort of figured they were from Italy.

‘I put it on there because I used to work in Europe so I have a few Italian friends.’

Mr Pussell, who has spoken to Mrs Benetti via text message, said she was completely surprised and overwhelmed.

The photos Mr Pussell found document Mr and Mrs Benetti’s entire trip around Australia, like this shot from Kata Tjuta in the Northern Territory

Mrs Benetti was completely surprised and overwhelmed that she was reunited with the photos

‘She asked “Are we famous, are we famous?”‘ he said.

‘It was very funny, very cute.’

Mr Pussell was carrying out a routine check of lost property on Tuesday when he found the camera card.

‘We were doing an inventory of lost property and as usual there are lots of cameras. I found a box full so I took everything out and underneath there was a lonely SD card,’ Mr Pussell told MailOnline.

‘It had been there for a while so I took it home with the intent of reformatting it so I could use it in my camera.’

Mr Pussell said he was shocked to find hundreds of romantic photos of a couple in front of Australia’s most famous landmarks.

‘The first photo is of her showing off her wedding ring. The last photo is in (Sydney’s) Darling Harbour. They’re classic honeymoon photos and they’ve been everywhere,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t bring myself to delete them.’