Claudia Moretti found 100 million lire tucked away in her uncle’s house, which she inherited after his death, but the bank told her she would not be able to exchange the outdated currency for Euros.

Stumbling across scads of money is the fantasy of many people. One woman in Italy actually had that dream come true, but in no time at all, it turned into a nightmare.

Several months ago, Claudia Moretti found 100 million lire tucked away in her uncle’s house, which she inherited after his death. In US terms, that amount translates to a very nice chunk of change at little under $72,000.

Moretti was obviously thrilled, but she soon found out nothing could be done with the massive stack of cash. The problem is that the lira means nothing nowadays due to the fact that Italy adopted the Euro as the country’s formal currency on January 1st of 2002.

Italy’s central bank set a time limit for residents to exchange all existing banknotes. Locals had until December 6th 2011 to turn in their lire for Euros.

Because Moretti’s windfall comes in outdated, virtually non existent banknotes, she’s been told there’s nothing anyone can do to help her, as she’s over 2 years late for an exchange.

Moretti has reportedly contacted lawyers to fight for her and help convince the bank to reverse the decision.