Tocco – Day 4

Tuesday 2nd June 2026

Italian Republic Day and David Macciocca’s 80th birthday

Big celebrations today. The whole country is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the republic and we are all helping David to celebrate his 80th birthday. He was born in Tocco and moved to Melbourne when he was 8 years of age.  He and Gaill have travelled back to Tocco 8 times since and have been the perfect guides with their local knowledge and contacts. We have met David’s relatives who still live here, Isoletta and Leno. David and Gaill’s son, Nick and his partner Ana Paula and her Mum, Cristina have traveled from Brazil to join in the celebrations.

We witnessed the parade led by the Tocco brass band. The ceremony took place in front of the Fallen Soldier Monument (our name) in the Enrico Berlinguer piazza. Local dignitaries laid a wreath before the priest blessed the statue.  The mayor presented David with a special certificate. We continued our celebrations with beers and glasses of chilled Aperol Spritz.

Later in the afternoon we visited Marano and the former site of David’s family home. It has been severely damaged by an earthquake so very little remains today. David’s cousin Isoletta is restoring a house in the next street and we took a peek at her progress. She hopes to finish next year but already it is easy to see that it will be beautiful when she has it finished.

Next stop was the Tocco cemetery to lay some flowers at the grave of David’s mother. She died when David was only 3 months old. The cemetery is well maintained with ancient headstones and many, many mausoleums.

Celebrations continued in the evening at a local restaurant. Our party of 12 enjoyed bruschetta, pizza and arrosticini (lamb skewers cooked over coals). The wine flowed. Isoletta presented David with a bottle of sparkling rose to toast his 80th birthday. This was followed by Isoletta’s toast to Geoff and I with another bottle of sparkling wine for our 41st wedding anniversary, the day before.

Certainly, a day for many celebrations.