At the turn of the 1900s, of all the women who were living in Rome, Teresa Gianni was one of the most beautiful and like Scarlet O’Hara she had many suitors.
Born in Bologna, Italy, where I was to later visit my future wife and mother-in-law many times, her father moved to the capital of Italy early on and there she was raised, met and married with my grandfather nonno Sisto. Both my grandparents, together with their relatives and families socialized in the upper circles of the Roman aristocracy.
Nonna Teresa’s dad lost his wife Olga while giving birth to her brother Olgo and out of his grief he tried to make up for the loss by giving everything he might have given to his wife who had died – to my grandmother Teresa instead.
And so my future grandmother had the most fashionable Italian and French clothing available to women living in Europe during the very early 1900’s. While a yet a young teenager she wore a Parisian dress called the frou-frou. It made a rustling or swishing sound when you walked in it and so others could hear you when you were approaching them and it was the rage in Rome for the women who could afford them! Grandmother also wore cushions of different types under her dresses, but she never liked them very much.
After my parents got married it was hard on my grandmother because Dad was no longer living with her as he had before. When she was invited to come over to our apartment later on we were told by Dad and Mom that we needed to do something real nice for her to make her feel welcome. My brother and I discussed the matter among ourselves and decided that we needed to entertain her; and so we did. We both waited for her to come through our front door and as soon as she did, without even saying hello to her, we both took off our undershirts so we would be bare-chested and began a mock fight between ourselves. In desperation she tried calling our mom for help to stop us, but I think mom already knew what we were trying to do. And so it became a tradition for several weeks afterwards that when grandmother came in we would make believe that we were fighting and she would humbly put up with our exhibition. After a while, however, she went to my mother privately and asked her meekly to tell us to stop the fighting. So Mom came and asked us to stop. But it was only with considerable reluctance, and not quite understanding why our grandmother did not appreciate all that we had done for her, that we decided to give up trying to entertain her and sat down instead so we could talk to her in a quiet manner.
When I was about nine years old nonna Teresa started knitting a new sweater for both my brother and I and continued to do that for us for many years until my mid-teens. I continued to wear some of her sweaters into my college years and then even later until when I got married when my wife also had already started making sweaters for me.
Nonna Teresa was quite a pizza maker and also famous for her suppli al telefono.
On Friday evenings, we would all gather at her apartment in Rome to eat it with my uncle zio Luciano. Even today, over 50 years later, I am not sure I have ever had a pizza quite like the ones she made for all of us then. Her great desire was to serve her family and do something special for us and her two male sons, my Dad and zio Luciano.
During the summer I would drive out to visit nonna Teresa in Senigallia on the Adriatic coast of Italy.
It became a yearly tradition and it was at Senigallia that she would tell me about her past.
She loved me very much and it was from her that I learned many of the things that I share on this web site regarding the Ripamonti and Gianni families.
She died in 1973 while I was serving in the Italian Army. I believe she had accepted Christ into her life one winter while we were staying at Torregrossa with some other Christian friends. I remember the words she voluntarily expressed at that time: “I feel I am at peace now.” Previously she had told me of her fears and the burden she was carrying.