The retired couple from Coatbridge will receive the keys to their new holiday home in time for Christmas.
Mr McNamee was at home looking for a new insurance quote on the internet when he received the call to tell him he had won the house in the Abruzzo region to the west of the Rome.
He said: “It was just a lovely surprise. It will add a fantastic new dimension to our retirement and we are looking forward to getting out there. I thought at first somebody was winding me up and we are both absolutely delighted with the win.”
Mr McNamee, 70, a retired accountant, and his wife celebrated the win with lasagne and a glass of wine at a favourite Italian restaurant.
The couple have four children and eight grandchildren, and Mr McNamee hoped the house could be used for family getaways.
The property is a one-bedroom eco home with a garden, built using local materials and trade. The prize was offered by Italian property specialists Each Property Med and sustainable tourism developers Tricali.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article