Three friends found a lost wedding ring and flew it home to Ireland

An 18-carat gold wedding ring that slipped into a fast mountain stream in Italy this summer is back on Patrick Mohr's hand. CBC Radio's As It Happens reported the search on October 17, 2026. Mohr, married for 16 years, lost the ring while he was catching his children as they jumped from a boulder. The town and the river were not named. His wife asked the only other people there, three Italian men, whether they had goggles. They did not. They exchanged numbers anyway and started joking that the hunt would be a Lord of the Rings quest.

Filippo Palagi, Nicola Malloggi, and Edoardo Poggi spent two days in a kayak, then tied ropes to boulders and searched the rapids in scuba masks. Malloggi saw a glint and closed his hand on the ring. Nine days later, while Mohr was still in Tuscany cooking pasta, a message arrived addressing him as Sméagol and showing what they had found. The three men later flew to Ireland dressed as Frodo, Merry, and Sam, with film music playing, and returned the ring in person. Mohr took them to Glendalough and Glenmalure, then to his local pub and home for dinner. He has not been described as a resident of Glendalough. That valley was the day out. Palagi said the search left them with family in Ireland.