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
Thinking of all those volunteering and working over this time when many get to take a break. It still amazes me how my grandparents opened their milk bar and fruit shop 7 days a week from early morning ‘til late at night with only two days a year off – for 20 years straight! And then ‘scaled back’ to 5 days a week for the following years.
Joe’s Fruit Shop and Milk Bar continues each weeknight on ABC Nightlife – thank you to all who’ve sent messages upon discovering the book – lovely to hear from you!
Coming up this street in Fossa always feels like being ‘almost home’ whether returning from nearby L’Aquila or a long flight from Australia. For just around the next corner is my family’s house and while it has centuries of history, to me it also has that comforting feel like coming to stay at your grandparents’ house.
This is one of the first photographs I chose that I hoped would make the cover of Mezza Italiana (it’s on the back). Taken in the 1960s, it was dinner for my uncle’s birthday and one of the rare times the family got to eat together since one of my grandparents were usually doing a shift at their milk bar.
Zoë Boccabella 