Credit: Stockbyte/Getty Images

This year has been filled with its share of sudden and surprising divorces in the entertainment and political world, but this split may take the cake.

A 99-year-old Italian man filed for divorce from his 96-year-old wife of 77 years after he found letters from an affair she had 60 years ago.

The man, identified in court papers as Antonio C., discovered the letters exchanged between his wife and a former flame in an old chest of drawers days before Christmas, according to the Telegraph. He confronted his wife, Rosa C., who reportedly admitted to the affair, and tried to convince him to stick with their marriage.

But despite the nearly eight decades that they spent building a life together, a scorned Antonio C., moved ahead with the divorce. (Guess he never heard of "let bygones be bygones.") The letters were the latest woes in the couple's long marriage during which they had five kids, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild together, according to UPI.

Originally from Sardinia, Antonio C. reportedly met Rosa C. in the 1930s while he served as part of the Italian Carabinieri in her native Naples. The Italian press pointed to the couple's southern blood as the catalyst for the breakup, the Telegraph noted.

Once Antonio and Rosa C.'s divorce is finalized, they will become the oldest divorcees, according to the Telegraph, taking the title from fellow Brits Bertie and Jessie Wood, both aged 98, who called it quits in 2009 after 36 years of marriage.