Amelia Martini | Family History

Happy Birthday Ame!

Dear mum, Happy birthday! As you know I’ve been working on our family’s history book for 6 years! And it is still work in progress. So I decided to put … Continue Reading →

Background

I was born in Catignano the 24th of July 1942. It is very hard to find Catignano on the map, it is a little town 30 km from Pescara. … Continue Reading →

WWII

Mussolini (1883- 1945 ) Italian Statesman, il Duce, the leader of the fascist movement who governed the kingdom of Italy as prime minister from 1922 – 1943 but was in … Continue Reading →

Farm Life

A lot of times our parents had to go away to work and us kids had to stay at home. As usual, the older kids had to look after the … Continue Reading →

Pietro Cesarone (Pops nephew) and Costantino in Venezuela 1949-1950 Pop went to Venezuela to see if there was more opportunity for the family there since there was not much work in Italy at the time. He worked with bricklayers but he hated it. He said he would never work with bricklayers again because they are pests, always asking for this and that. He was only there for 18 months.

Pop

In the 1950s, we were still struggling to make a better life for us. Pop decided to immigrate to Venezuela, where we had some relatives working there. He thought that … Continue Reading →

School

I started school in 1948 in Contrada Collemaggio. Collemaggio was a group of farm houses which were about 300 meters from each other. They were in the Nocciano area which … Continue Reading →

When I was at middle school, Rosina began a relationship by correspondence with Gabriele DiDonato who had already migrated to Melbourne, Australia. In 1955 Rosina married Gabriele by proxy and … Continue Reading →

Domenico (Mimi)

In Italy, up until recently, it was compulsory for men to do 18 months of military training once they turn 21. In 1959 Domenico and Pop were scheduled to leave … Continue Reading →

Amelia and Nonna on board the Roma with cabin mates

Immigrating

Pop left on his scheduled date onboard the ship ‘Sydney’ and arrived in Melbourne after a 26 day journey. Our family of 6 people was now split down the middle, … Continue Reading →

Gino and Rosa carrying Fab October/November 1960

Life in Australia

We finally disembarked and made it to Zia Rosas house. Zia Rosa used to send us photos of the house where she lived in Australia. It was on glossy paper … Continue Reading →

Work

We all got jobs very quickly but I thought maybe at some stage I could continue my schooling. But it didn’t happen. After 2 days my sister brought me to … Continue Reading →

Nonna

I used to take Nonna with me everytime I had to go shopping because she was good at mixing colours and choosing good quality clothes. When I got married she … Continue Reading →

Ernesto

In 1964 Fernanda came to Australia with her family, Walter, Pierino and Vienna. She started working with me at Alto Knitwear shortly after, she was only 14 but I told … Continue Reading →