Maria Fichera, Beda, Spuranado.

Our grandmother was known by many names, but to us, she will always just
be “Nanna”. My name is Dominic Fichera, and I am, without doubt, Nanna’s favourite grandson. Today I
wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the memories my brothers, Giulian and Emilio, and I, have
experienced with our Nanna.

Firstly, I think the most memorable moment I shared with Nanna was back in 2001, when I was but a wee 7-
year-old in grade 1. One of my favourite classes was “Italian”, where we would go to learn how to speak the
language, explore the country and savour some tasty treats – None of which could ever compare to the
traditional experience of a “Nanna Lunch”. Needless to say, when one of my classes coincided with a visit
from my favourite Nanna, I absolutely HAD to bring her in for show-and-tell. As with anything Nanna related,
she accepted with gusto and I was able to show everyone what it was like to meet a REAL LIVE ITALIAN.

Now, another thing we remember about our Nanna is that she would never take any attitude from anyone.
If you misbehaved, you would receive a warning, and believe us, you had better straighten up… or else! One
time, though, Giulian decided to see how far he could push Nanna and started to tease Emilio. Nanna
promptly said “Stop or I hit you!”. For those of you who know my brother, that wouldn’t be enough to stop
him. Needless to say, Nanna, otherwise known as the Italian Ninja, snapped into action with her trusty
walking stick and Giulian, with a very sore head, learnt that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to test how far
you could push her.

Even though our trusty Italian Ninja was an expert at enforcing the law, she wasn’t too good at following it
herself. I don’t think I could count the number of times a chair was pulled out from under us at the last
second, or the last mouthful of agnolotti eaten by a ‘mysterious stranger’ when we looked out the window,
at Nanna’s request, to see if a visitor had arrived.

When I spoke with Giulian earlier this week about any memories that stood out to him, he reminded me of
one time that Nanna actually encouraged him to cause some mischief. One thing you never do is ask a crafty
Italian woman and her naughty grandson to pull a prank on someone. On this particular evening, Giulian and
Nanna had just finished playing a game of canasta, and as with any good Fichera canasta game, it went into
the early hours of the morning. To wrap up the night, Giulian thought he might do a bit of a fashion parade
with a difference… He would model Nanna’s clothes instead! But, that’s not all. To top it off, Giulian decided
that 2:00am was a suitable time to pay his grandfather a visit. **Need to confirm details with Giulian after
he finishes uni**

The last memory I would like to share is one that I have only heard about today, and involves my youngest
brother and cousin, Aidan. The story goes: Emilio and Aidan had come to visit Nanna and were staying the
night with them. Suddenly they were overcome with a hunger that could only be sated with…. Maccas! But
of course, you couldn’t let your Italian Nanna know you were hungry, for fear that she would then whip up a
midnight feat for 14, so, naturally the mission was to outlast Nanna and go for a feed. Now, I don’t know
how many people have spent the night at Maria Fichera’s house, but staying up later than her would be a
mission in itself… and somehow they managed, so off Emilio went. There was only one problem though…
They didn’t take into consideration Nanna’s 6th sense, and no sooner had Emilio walked out the front door,
had Nanna come down for a bit of an investigation, so it was up to Aidan to stall. And surprisingly, he
managed to cover up pretty well… Until Emilio returned home and started knocking at the door “Beda, did
you hear something” said Nanna. “No Nanna, I didn’t hear anything.” says Aidan, frantically trying to wave
Emilio around the other side of the house. Long story short, it’s never worth trying to pull the wool over
Nanna’s eyes. She will always know!

I will write a transition based on where these memories fit into the Eulogy (e.g. I will pass onto another
speaker, or wrap up).