Part 3 – Il grande viaggio 1975… 50 years since Nanna Francesca and Nonno Anni took their ‘big trip’ overseas and returned to Italy for the first time since the 1930s.
The joy of travelling through Italy from top-to-toe… Nonno Anni on a boat in Venice, Nanna Francesca at Florence’s cathedral and a monument to the fallen in Anacapri. Together by L’Aquila’s fountain with its ninety-nine spout heads of 13th century local lords.
One of my favourite photos is the ordinary street somewhere in Italy when Nanna Francesca snapped Nonno Anni unaware as he returns with cones of gelati for the two of them. It’s pretty hard to go to Italy and not have gelati!
It must’ve been a glorious trip for them both after decades of no holidays while working in the Astoria café, on farms and in their fruit shop and milk bar in Australia. A chance to see loved ones and friends again in their hometowns and also see places all through their beloved Italy they’d been unable to while young. A time when impending war and trying circumstances confined most to their local areas. How different 1970s Italy must have seemed! 💛🌠
Zoë Boccabella 