LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
A Italian-Betootan family have been left feeling like a big bunch of stereotypes after trying, and failing, to have just one party without sparklers.
According to great nonno Armando De Sapienza (98), he and his wife arrived in Australia with nothing but a suitcase full of suitcase handles (in case their suitcase handle broke) and the hopes of achieving the American dream.
When his boat arrived and he realised the captain had lied to him about the destination, he decided to make a life for himself in Betoota anyway and became the first person in town to grow tomatoes competitively.
According to De Sapienza he celebrated his first Betoota Royal Show blue ribbon for tomatoes with some of his wife’s gelato and enough sparklers to turn night back into day.
Ever since, the De Sapienza family, and almost every other Italian-Australian family, has been completely incapable of having a family get-together without lighting a galaxy’s worth of sparklers.
“They’re just so nice but,” stated Olivia De Sapienza, who is whisked back to her magical childhood every time she looks into the spitting golden eye of a sparkler.
“We said we going to do it less so we agreed only on special occasions like Christmas, birthdays, Easter, New Years, gender reveals, pancake Tuesday obviously, Ash Wednesday, funerals, Greek Easter (for my brother in law) and whenever nonno has too many veggies and invites us round to help out.”
“Today we weren’t meant to and when nonno asked me if I had seen the matches I was about to say something but come on, who doesn’t love sparklers?”
