Stephanie, a 36-year-old executive from Melbourne, had stayed behind in Italy after a European trip with friends when her dream vacation took a chilling turn.
This post may include affiliate links.
The Australian traveler, who is known on social media for sharing DIY home renovation videos, had been drawn to Sicily for two reasons:
First, she wanted to explore Italy’s €1-house programs, where abandoned or dilapidated properties are sold for a symbolic one euro. Second, she was also interested in the kiteboarding scene in Lo Stagnone, a town near Marsala.
Highlights
- 36-year-old Stephanie from Melbourne, traveled to enjoy Italy's kiteboarding scene.
- A foreign expat drove her away from her kiteboarding group and took her to a gated compound.
- Just as she thought she was safe, a second man cornered her.
Her holiday soon became a nightmare after, according to Stephanie, she was kidnapped twice within hours by two different men.
A tourist went viral after claiming to have been kidnapped twice by two different men in Sicily
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
The first incident began during what appeared to be a harmless meet-up with fellow kiteboarders.
Stephanie had joined the group while staying in Lo Stagnone last October. When the others began heading to another bar, she trusted the people around her enough to get into a foreign expat’s car.
Within minutes, she realized the car was no longer following the group.
Image credits: stephadiy/TikTok
“I got into the car, and he starts driving. We go 300 meters (about 984 ft), 400 meters (about 1312 ft); and he says, ‘let’s see if we can get this car to 160,’” she told local media.
The comment immediately alarmed her.
“And I’m like, ‘Sorry, what?’ He starts driving faster and faster, and I’m like, ‘No, please don’t. I want to get out.’”
As the driver accelerated along the small Sicilian roads, Stephanie began pleading with him to stop. Instead, she said, the car kept going faster.
Image credits: autumnfelines1
Image credits: Mollie_SRogers
“I’m terrified. So I start pleading, begging, and the car goes faster. Screaming, yelling, and the car goes faster. And these are small Sicilian roads.”
At some point, Stephanie went quiet long enough to text her location to her kiteboarding instructor. She was trapped inside the car with the driver and another man in the front passenger seat, who then asked a question that made the situation even more frightening.
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
“And then his friend that was in the front passenger seat said to him, ‘Is everyone coming back to your place, are they?’
“And he goes, ‘No, absolutely not, no one’s coming.’”
That answer made Stephanie realize the passenger may not have understood what the driver was doing.
“So I realized that even the friend doesn’t really understand what’s going on. He’s confused.”
After traveling seven miles the car reached a gated compound and drove inside
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
By then, Stephanie believed she could no longer wait for anyone else to help her. The passenger appeared confused, but she did not think he was strong enough to stop whatever the driver had planned.
“I just decide, well, I may as well check the car door. Because I’m not safe with these people. The friend doesn’t seem like he’s got enough backbone to stop whatever this man has in mind for me.”
The door was unlocked.
“It opened, and I just ran and ran, for as long as I could, before I found an object to hide behind and check if I was being followed, and I wasn’t,” she recounted.
Image credits: DemsMakeUPoor
Image credits: alexblac_ink
After running for a while, she reached a quiet little town and saw a security guard’s car with warning lights. She found the guard patrolling the area and used a translation app on her phone to explain what had happened.
The guard agreed to take her back to her accommodation. He even called his boss to explain what he was doing.
At that point, Stephanie thought she was finally safe and only moments away from her hotel room.
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
Then the second man pulled into an alleyway.
“He just pulls over into this alleyway, and he’s determined to translate on my phone,” she said.
“So I finally gave him the phone when he’d stopped driving, and he typed on the phone: ‘What are you going to do for me for driving you home?’”
For the second time that night, Stephanie checked the door.
“So I just did the same thing. The door was open, and I ran into a vineyard.”
After escaping the security guard, Stephanie began walking in the direction of her hotel
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
By then, she was unwilling to trust anyone else. Whenever she saw headlights in the distance, she hid, refusing to take another chance on a passing car or another stranger who might offer help.
Along the way, she stopped at vending machines to buy drinks. The purchases were intentional. She wanted the transactions to be traceable in case something happened before she made it back.
Image credits: gerkenschleigen
Image credits: Fl0ridaGators
Stephanie eventually reached her accommodation, but the ordeal did not end when she got inside. She said she “cried all the next day” before reuniting with the kiteboarding crew, who were “beside themselves” when they heard what had happened.
The incident left her shaken and changed the way she thinks about returning to Italy alone.
Stephanie said she wants her experience to serve as a warning to other travelers
Image credits: stephadiy/Instagram
Despite her traumatic experience, Stephanie made clear that she does not blame Italians or Italy as a whole.
“It’s absolutely not an Italian thing,” she said, pointing out that the man who drove her away from the bar was a European expat.
She also said women face danger at home as well as abroad.
“Unfortunately for me and a lot of my girlfriends, much worse things have happened to us here in Australia, " she added, referring to the country’s domestic and gender-violence rates.
“It’s not safe here either.”
For now, Stephanie’s dream of buying and renovating a house in Italy has been put on hold.
“I don’t think I’ll be going to Italy to work on a project unless I have someone that I’m doing it with now.”
"How is that even possible!?" a netizen asked
Image credits: Lakers_ftw_
Image credits: josephm_j
Image credits: SquishyAvo
Image credits: ryanhuffine254
Image credits: ashebabes
Image credits: PropGawd
Image credits: WellingtonSpurs
Image credits: Mulfs_Ke
Image credits: BasedApone
Image credits: Zara_5666