Home topics news News News Things I learned from my Nonna! Gemma Tognini April 6, 2010 In Italy, they say…Natale coi tuoi, Pasqua dove vuoi. Put simply, it means you must spend Christmas with your family but Easter is up for grabs. This Easter we hung around the house – hosted the inaugural Lambaliscious festival, complete with lamb themed dessert… (A WHOLE other blog) and on Saturday I went and hung out with my Nonna. My grandmother is 83 years young and one of my favourite people on the planet. Pina Tognini arrived in Australia in the 50s with two young children in tow, to reunite the husband and father none of them had seen for the better part of a couple of years. My Nonno had fled post war Italy and come to Australia in search of a better life for his young family. He found it in Western Australia and saved up until he could bring his family here too. Theirs is a story which I hope to one day tell in full. My Nonna and Nonno met as teenagers in their village – the village my family still calls home, about an hour north east of Lago di Como. When World War 2 broke out, my grandfather, like so many other men of the Valtellina, joined the partigiani – the Italian resistance. But again…this must be a story for another day. Back to my Nonna. To say I have learned a lot from her over the years