20 January 2023 , 15:20
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Italy has been left stunned after a woman shared her story about commuting from Naples to Milan daily - a 1,000-mile trip.
Giuseppina Giuliano, 29, told local media she wakes up at dawn every morning to travel 995 miles to Milan, spending nine hours on a high-speed train, so she can go to work cleaning a school in the financial hub in northern Italy.
Boccioni High School offered her a permanent job in September, which earns her a meagre monthly salary of just £1,021 (€1,165).
Despite searching far and wide, she couldn't find a property in Milan for less than £525 (€600), so decided to undertake the mammoth journey from her parent's home in Naples, she said.
She keeps the cost of the epic trip down to around €400 (£350) per month because she uses loyalty points and discount codes. By doing so, she's at least €200 (£175) better off each month.
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Her job in Milan pays just over £1,000 (Getty Images)She told Il Giorno: "Between rent, utility bills and expenses, I would have used up all my salary if I had moved to live in Milan and I would probably have had to ask for financial help from my family."
Giuseppina sets her alarm at 3.30am before catching Naples' high-speed train to Milan at 5.09am.
This gets her in to work for 10.30am on the dot.
And the return journey is just as bad, with her leaving the city at 6.20pm and arriving home at 10.53pm.
Long Frecciarossa (ETR 500) train at a station in Italy (Getty Images/iStockphoto)The gruelling daily commute has made Giuliano a symbol of Italy's own cost of living crisis.
News website Open said her continuing ordeal violates the Italian constitution, which dictates workers must be paid a salary which guarantees a "free and dignified existence".
Some outlets have raised concerns about her account, saying that she may have been able to find cheaper accommodation out of the city centre. They also wondered how she could travel so cheap from Naples to Milan.
One of the teachers at her school claimed Giuseppina had only come to work twice before going on "extraordinary leave".
However, another staff member said the story was true, adding that the school was doing what it could to find her a home nearby.
In London, a tiny rental studio is up for grabs for £1,300 - complete with a bed made of scaffolding poles.
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The property, in Maida Vale, London, is not cheap but still might seem an almost attractive proposition at first glance, given sky-high London property prices.
But any potential renters might have second thoughts when they look inside.
The bed could be off-putting to some as it is only accessible by an uneven, chunky staircase and it is made of scaffolding poles.
The poles have been painted white in an effort to make the entire thing look more aesthetically pleasing.