Rosa Bianchi

Rosa was born in Bologna in the spring of 1938, the youngest of four. She learned to sew from her mother and, at nineteen, opened a small tailoring shop on Via Saragozza that she ran for more than forty years.

To her grandchildren she was simply Nonna Rosa: the keeper of Sunday lunches, of tortellini folded by hand, and of stories about the city before the war. She tended a balcony full of geraniums and basil and knew every neighbour by name.

She is remembered for her patience, her quiet humour and the way she made everyone feel expected.