ROME (Reuters) - It wasn’t exactly pennies from heaven but it was perhaps the next best thing: a truck carrying 2.5 million euros in coins overturned on a highway in southern Italy and motorists picked up the money like mushrooms.

In the accident, the truck’s rear door popped open and what followed must have seemed like a massive slot machine win.

Before police arrived, motorists stopped their cars and made off with about 10,000 euros in one and two euro coins being transported from the Italian mint to local banks.

The story and pictures made the front page of many Italian papers on Tuesday alongside grim articles about the coming austerity budget that will force many to make sacrifices.

One called it “The miracle of the coins.”