“I know a beautiful girl,” Romolo Digiulio’s friend whispered in his ear.
And when Mr Digiulio first laid eyes on Concetta, that beautiful girl from Abruzzo, he wasted no time in asking for her hand in marriage.
They wed on January 3, 1950 and celebrated their 65th anniversary earlier this month.
Mr Digiulio moved to Perth in 1957 to set up a prosperous life for his wife and son.
From there he moved to Springvale and eventually built their family home in Greenvale.
“Connie,” as Concetta, 83, is known among friends, didn’t leave Italy for Australia until much later.
“It was very hard for my mum,” she said. “She said, ‘No, my daughter will not go there’.”
Mr Digiulio, 89, is the current president of the Circolo Pensionati Multiculturale di Greenvale.
They have two middle-aged children.
Lexi Cottee
