A Romanian tourist spent nearly a month in prison after police mistook him for a wanted criminal on the first day of his holiday in Italy, his lawyer said on Friday.

"The nightmare is over," Ovidiu A. said as he left Pordenone prison in northern Italy on Thursday, local newspaper Corriere del Veneto reported .

"He was finally able to reunite with his family," who had been waiting for him since August 24, the day of his arrest, his lawyer Stefano De Rosa told AFP.

Originally from Iasi, Romania, Ovidiu A. had come to spend a few days with his family in Caorle, near Venice.

He would soon find out he shares a name with a wanted Romanian criminal, previously sentenced to two years in prison in Italy for aggravated theft.

The name, registered at the hotel upon arrival, triggered an alert,

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