There’s so much I love about this photograph taken in the Brisbane backyard of Granny Maddalena and Nonno Vitale’s house… everyone under the Hills hoist, Granny bending over giggling, the woman’s arm around her. Nonno Anni looking over to see what they’re laughing at, Nanna Francesca always ready for the camera, holding the young boy who doesn’t look so keen to be in the photo.
I love too the pawpaw tree and monstera plant behind them, the Queenslander on stumps and corrugated-iron stove area jutting from the kitchen above, where I can picture Granny standing stirring her minestrone. Even that the photo is a bit blurry with too much foreground is endearing, as is Nonno Vitale bending a little to make sure he’s in the picture (though he did have a bad back after years of cane-cutting and labouring jobs!)
Most of all, I love how when friends or family came to visit, (on those rare occasions that everyone wasn’t working!) they’d all put on their good clothes, get out the good coffee cups and make sure a photo was taken to mark the occasion. As many of you will know, for migrant families who had to say goodbye – sometimes forever – to family and friends on the other side of the world, creating extended family among those around you was especially important, whether you were related or not, and there’s something so lovely in that. Zoë x
The Italian saying, ‘Prendere due piccioni con una fava’ – catch two pigeons with one fava bean – sounds slightly kinder than ‘kill two birds with one stone’ but its meaning, ‘achieve two aims at once’ is the same. It’s fave (broad bean) time again here and they’re particularly fresh, sweet and earthy tasting at present.
“On Boxing Day, Annibale, Francesca and the others loaded the back of the Chevrolet with cold drinks, some roast chickens and a couple of large watermelons. After several years of keeping the fruit shop and milk bar open almost every day, Annibale had decided they’d close for a couple of days over Christmas and the family would head to the beach for the day…
Thank you to great-granny Maddalena who showed me about forbearance, cheekiness, growing vegetables and cooking minestrone and great-grandma Charlotte for her work ethic, kindness, growing gerberas and carnations and baking scones. 
Doing things like an Italian you’d never have thought you would when growing up… 
Zoë Boccabella 