The Journey Begins

Luigina was born on 3 February 1949 in the small mountain village of Prezza, Italy. Like many families in post-war Italy, life was not always easy. Times were hard, but she grew up surrounded by the love of her parents, her sister, close friends, and a close-knit community where everyone knew one another.

At just seventeen years of age, shortly after marrying Antonio, Luigina made the life-changing decision to leave everything she had ever known. In 1966, she and Antonio boarded a ship bound for Australia. The journey took 19 days, carrying them across the ocean and far away from their families and the village they called home.

Luigina said goodbye to her parents, her sister and lifelong friends, not knowing when she would see them again. She arrived in Australia with Antonio with little more than hope for the future and a determination to build a better life together.

With no immediate family in Australia, Luigina and Antonio initially stayed with her father’s first cousin, Maria, and her husband, Antonio Castiglia, in Melbourne. They lived with them for around two weeks while they began finding their feet in their new country.

Soon afterwards, the young couple rented their first home together—a small flat at 7/44 King Street, North Fitzroy. It was here that they truly began their new life in Australia.

In 1967, their first child, Giuseppe, was born. Luigina worked hard as a machinist, using her sewing skills to help provide for her young family. For many years she worked in the clothing industry, including making pyjamas.

For many years, Luigina worked as a machinist in Glenlyon Road, while Antonio worked long hours as a taxi driver. Like so many migrant families of their generation, they worked hard, saved what they could and slowly built a secure future for their family.

In 1971, their hard work enabled them to purchase their own home in Campbellfield. Their daughter, Angelica, was born soon afterwards, completing their young family.

In 1982, after sixteen years in Australia, Luigina and Antonio returned to Prezza with Giuseppe and Angelica. For Luigina, it was an especially meaningful homecoming. She was finally able to return to the village she had left as a seventeen-year-old and show her mother the two children whose future had been at the heart of the enormous decision she had made all those years earlier.

After returning from Italy, life entered another chapter. Antonio stopped driving taxis and went to work at Pinolo, a grocery store on St Georges Road. He later worked for Gully Wines in North Fitzroy, where he remained until retiring at the age of 65.

Luigina continued working as a machinist for many years. Her final job was with a clothing company that manufactured garments for Nike, and she continued working until the age of 52. Her many years behind a sewing machine were another reflection of the hard work and determination that had characterised her life in Australia.

Through decades of work and sacrifice, Luigina and Antonio created the life they had dreamed about when they boarded that ship in 1966. Their home was filled with warmth, kindness, strong family values and a deep connection to the Italian traditions they had brought with them.

In 2002, they moved from Campbellfield to Roxburgh Park, beginning another chapter of the life they had built together in Australia.

As the years passed, their family continued to grow. They were blessed with four grandchildren—Francesco, Emily, Antonio and Isabella—each one a reminder that the sacrifices made so many years earlier had created a legacy that would continue through future generations.

Luigina’s journey is a story of quiet courage, hard work, unwavering love and remarkable sacrifice. At only seventeen, she left her parents, her sister, her friends and the only home she had ever known. She crossed the ocean for 19 days, arrived in a country where she and Antonio had almost no family, and began again.

From those first two weeks staying with relatives, to their little rented flat in North Fitzroy, to raising their children and eventually owning a home of their own, Luigina and Antonio built their life step by step.

What began with a seventeen-year-old girl leaving a small mountain village in Italy became a family story spanning countries and generations.

Her story is a reminder that behind the lives we enjoy today are the sacrifices of those who came before us—people who were brave enough to leave everything familiar behind so that their children, grandchildren and the generations still to come could have a brighter tomorrow.