Assuntina, who is now ninety years old, tells of an almost incredible life. From working in a Haute Fashion atelier in Milan, then meeting the man who would become her husband on a holiday in Rimini, to starting a new life in a different country.

By Simona Pacini

If this lady with a fresh face, illuminated by two clear eyes, who speaks Tuscan with an English accent, sitting in front of me at the coffee table in a bar, were to find a symbol to tell a long and satisfying life like hers, she would surely choose a thread of pearls. The thread of pearls he was wearing in August 1962 in Rimini and that the young man met during the holiday took with him to Scotland, with a promise. "I'll bring it back to you. You wait for me".

Today Tina Donati is ninety years old and she has been a widow for two years. Douglas Scott, the young Scottish holiday on the Romagna Riviera, stayed by her side all his life, first in Italy, between Milan and Turin, and then in Glasgow, where their two children, Steven and Andrew, were born.

The story of Assuntina, born on July 17, 1934 in Catelli, a farm in Berignone in the municipality of Casole, the last of seven children of a peasant family, is a special life. "Up until the age of six I was raised by an aunt in Lucciana - she says - then I went to elementary school in Monteguidi, together with my friend Maria Pia Paradisi, until my family and I moved to Colle Val d'Elsa, first to Boscona and then to Bibbiano".

At the age of 17, Tina joined her sister Elena in Milan, where she found a job as a tailor, taking advantage of what she had learned in Colle da Teresina, in whose house in the Duomo the girls gathered to sew. In Milan, after another experience in a home workshop, he ended up in one of the most famous ateliers of those years. Dalla Biki, pseudonym of Elvira Leonardi Bouyeure, an Italian Haute Couture designer who was very active between the 1940s and 1960s, you will also have the opportunity to meet Maria Callas.

"We were about ten workers - Tina remembers - and we did everything, even hats. Actors and actresses of the time came from the Biki. Callas in those years was at the beginning of her career but she was already behaving like a diva. She was very big in build, nice but could be moody if something went wrong even at the last minute. She also gave up an evening at La Scala".

Tina Donati and Douglas a love born in Rimini

After their holiday in Rimini, Tina receives a postcard from Douglas. "He wrote that he was looking for a job in Italy. In May he was then contacted for an interview in Turin and was hired at Ilte, a printing house that printed for Mondadori. At first he stayed with me and my sister in Milan, then he moved to Turin and we only saw each other on weekends. But after a while I went to stay in Turin with him. We got married in the municipality of Milan on December 16, '63, a little over a year after we met. It was a very simple marriage with my sister, her two children and friends from the holiday in Rimini. We chose the civil ceremony because he was a Protestant. My family met my husband when we were already married".

At the ceremony among those absent it was not only Tina's parents who were unable to attend. Even the sister's husband did not participate in the party, but by his choice. Giovanni Fiori, known as Gianni, was a pianist of Sardinian origin who played at La Scala and abroad, also performing with Macario. In Sassari, where a square was named to him, his family frequented the Cossiga, so much so that Alessandro, son of Gianni and Elena Donati, had Francesco Cossiga - future President of the Republic - as his godfather of confirmation. Fiori family was an extremely religious family respectful of traditions and for this reason Gianni preferred not to attend the civil wedding.

"Even my sister would have had so many stories to tell - says Tina -. She had chosen to be called Elena, but her real name was Fenelia, and we never understood why. With Gianni they had met in Albania, where she had gone into wartime in the wake of a family for which she worked".

Today, of the seven siblings, only Tina and Alvaro remain, who is 95 years old and lives in a retirement home. Every time Tina returns to Italy, at least twice a year, she spends as much time as possible with him. 'He's fine and hasn't lost his memory".

From Italy to Scotland to be by the mother-in-law's side

When her mother-in-law starts to feel very unwell, Tina and Douglas move to Glasgow. "My early years in Scotland I didn't feel at all comfortable - she says - especially with the language. If I think that my husband had learned Italian in a year... It took me five years before I was able to hold a conversation. But I've always found very kind people who offered their help to me".

When the children began going to school, Tina was able to start doing some sewing G work from home again. "Simple things, just repairs, just to do something. Even if I didn't need it from an economic point of view".

Douglas worked for a newspaper, the Daily Record, first as an interpreter and then as an editor. Tina and Douglas lead a very intense social life playing golf at the Cawder Golf Club. she also played badminton with her friends, they go on vacation in their home in Andalusia, on the Costa del Sol.

"Before moving to Scotland I didn't even know what badminton was" she says. "Unfortunately my husband died two years ago and I would never have expected it. He was also a little younger than me, I don't think that's right - he continues -. But I'm not alone. I have friends from Glasgow and my children, who always think of me. This year to celebrate my birthday they took me to Ibiza. And then I have my relatives here in Colle, I see them twice a year and whom I love very much".

It's late. Her son and daughter-in-law are waiting for Tina to go to dinner at the restaurant. The nephew has just finished watching the Croatia-Scotland football match in a local pub, and he is ready too.

We say goodbye. Before leaving Tina says. "Even if I'm not wearing it now, the necklace of pearls that Douglas took away from Rimini, he is always with me. They are not real pearls, now you can the surface deteriorating. But for me this remains one of the most precious jewels I have".