OSVALDO ANTONIO ZANDERIGO.Iona b. 1851 & GIOSEFFA De RIGO CROMARO b. 1854
Were married on 26 June 1875 in Casamazzagno, Comelico Superiore, Belluno Italy.
Osvaldo Supported his Family as did his father and grandfather, plying the arts of 'Stagnini/Lattoniere' (Tinsmiths) making, selling & repairing pots, pans & utensils throughout the mountain villages of northern Italy & Austria. They had 5 children: Liberia * Osvaldo * Sante * Giuseppe and the youngest, my Father, LUIGI FRANCESCO ZANDERIGO.Iona was born on 6 September 1895.

Luigi Francesco's early life was occupied following the Zanderigo.Iona family tradition of working as a Tinsmith, working the same mountain villages his father and grandfather did before him .
As a teenager he became fascinated with stories his brothers told him about on their return from travelling around Europe of the amazing Steam Engines in trains. He determined to make one and fashioned it from bits and pieces, eventually firing it up . It ran so well (without a governor/regulator) that it roared up the street with increasing speed until inevitably it exploded with a loud bang and a cloud of steam, with some of the flying debris breaking a neighbour's window. ( In 1950 When Luigi returned to Casamazzagno for the first time since emigrating, his mother Gioseffa, had proudly kept all the pieces of the steam engine and brought them out to show him ).

Life continued with intermittent occupations:
For a while he worked as a ski instructor. Luigi also served as an "Alpino" (Soldiers trained to fight in the Mountains.)
During the 1914/18 war he served as a Brigade Commander in the 12th regiment of the Bersaliere and on 18 August 1915, during a gun battle with the Germans on Mount Slemen in Austria he was wounded in the leg with a rifle bullet. He was forced to hole up taking cover in a bomb crater the rest of the day, thru the night until next morning when eventually, after first aid, stretcher bearers were able to bring him down from the mountains and to a military hospital. This was the end of his career in the army. He was awarded the War Cross of Merit by the ministry of was decorated with the Medal of Honour for services to the nation.

In 1920 he established an agency for selling and repairing sewing and knitting machines, maintaining and repairing them.
Amongst all this he sheepishly admitted to a rather lucrative scheme of smuggling truck tyres across the border from Austria into Italy until things       "Got a little too hot"                

He later formed a seven piece band, of which one member was a young lady ( ? ): Luigi played the piano, violin, and the piano accordion, which was his favourite. His first venture overseas with his Band was in 1925. They toured thru Canada, U.S.A, Australia and New Zealand. This tour was repeated again in 1927. He became enamoured of the quality of life he found in New Zealand and determined on his return to Italy to propose to Silvia Tavan whom he had been courting for some time, marry and emigrate to New Zealand. In Auckland in the last week of his 1927 tour, he packed everything up and took off to downtown Auckland to put his suit into the cleaners. When he returned to lodgings he could not find where he had put his money, (a large bankroll), the savings from all his Gigs of the current tour. He suddenly remembered it was in his suit. In his words, he ran like a mad-man back to the cleaners only to find they had shut shop for the day. After a frantic and sleepless night he was at the cleaners an hour before they opened and before he could open his mouth the cleaner's wife said, "Its all right Mr Zanderigo we found the money and took it to bed with us", it was not without temptation, and with a hearty laugh she handed the money over to Luigi.

Luigi and Silvia married in January 1928 , I, Mauro Osvaldo was born on the 5 November 1928. On the 29th February 1929 we were to board the S.S. Orsova at the port of Naples and set sail for New Zealand. A few days before departure , I had contracted a most severe attack of something not known to my parents at the time. So disfigured and alarming was my face and body appearance, Luigi had determined that if the ships authorities got a look at me , they might refuse to allow us to board ship. I was wrapped up tight to conceal my affliction and hurried on board. When well off shore the ship's doctor was consulted as my 'condition' worsened and it was diagnosed as "Eczema"- a worse case he had not seen. I was said to be unrecognisable.

We berthed at Brisbane on the 9th May, then travelled by train to Sydney in time to board the S.S. Ulimaroa on the 12 may, arriving at Auckland on the 14th May 1929. While waiting to have documents processed, Luigi struck up a conversation with a friendly Emily Green who was at the wharf to meet her sister from England. The Greens, Robert and Emily, befriended us and offered us shelter for a few days until Luigi found accomodation in a rented house in Graham Street Auckland. The Zanderigos and the Greens became lifelong friends. My parents were soon to experience the beginning of the Great World Depression set in. Work was hard to find and one year later they rented a house in Union Street. To supplement their meagre income and help pay their way they took in paying lodgers (Italians) .
For this purpose the Union Street house proved too small so they shifted to 175 Hobson Street, a three storey apartment. Most of the lodgers became life long friends of Luigi & Silvia and life for me at 175 Hobson street provided the earliest memories of my youth.

In time Luigi established his own business in Otahuhu, manufacturing Terrazzo, which he
worked at most of his life. Liugi used to make his own wine and "Grappa". It was Robert Green who enlisted the help of the local police constable to make the grappa. The 'Distillery', believe it or not was designed and built with the help of the 'local cop', who during WW2 was an engineer in the N.Z armed forces serving in Italy. He came to love the 'Fire water' and became a friend of my father. Their favourite was wine made from prunes, then processed thru the 'still' into grappa. The rind of lemons was grated using an old fashion cheese grater (very fine), left to marinate in boiled water and sugar overnight, then filtered thru a cheese cloth and added to the Grappa. Many a winter's nite, those three sat in front of the open fire talking politics and sipping this home-made "Strega". I can still remember the rows of bottles with the yellow concoction up high in the top cupboard out of sight (so they thought) from the children. Many's the sip I had when no one was around and I topped the bottles up with water, and many's the good night's sleep I had.

At the end of 1945 I had finished my secondary schooling and after two years of changing jobs I started work for my father manufacturing Terrazzo products, sink benches, shower bases, fire surrounds bathroom floors etc. I have never forgotten an incident that occurred around this time that 'set in concrete' for me a lesson in responsibility.
It began one quiet sunday morning when my father called me to follow him down to the Terrazzo Factory at the rear of the house. Some months earlier he had constructed a large ground roller (from a concrete storm water pipe), three feet in diameter, for use in the preparation and compacting of the ground for concrete paths and drives. He dismantled the handle and removed the end plate and said
"Look in there and you will see a four gallon kerosene tin strapped to the inside wall of the roller" If any thing happens to me (at this point a feeling of unease came over me that I did not understand at the time) you will find a sum of money, this is for you to use, to look after your mother".
"Some money ?"! How much was "some money" ? How much money can you stuff in a four gallon kerosene tin ? Why Me ??? I did not sleep for days after. Some two years later I had forgotten this 'Covenant'. My father and mother were on holiday in Italy, one of the staff asked me if he could borrow the roller, I said sure thing. When father returned he noticed the roller missing, he came roaring into the house, "WHERE'S THE BLOODY ROLLER?" We both sweated until the roller was returned. To this day I never really did see what was in the kerosene tin, or if its still in the roller, or where the roller is today. All I can say is that in my father's usual style anything he made, was made to last a hundred years. In his generous way he did often loan things and later, as his memory did fail him, like mine has me, "someone" ? may still have a very heavy and expensive roller.
In 1952 Silvia purchased a Baby Wear retail shop "The Nursery Nook"in Symonds Street next door to the State movie
theatre; This enterprise so much reminded her of her early days managing the shop in Casamazzagno. Silvia never really settled in New Zealand, she constantly expressed the opinion that everything by comparison was better back home and always wanted to return to Casamazzagno. She successfully operated the shop for a number of years until her health fail.
Luigi and Silvia worked hard most of their lives, so that in later years they were able to enjoy the fruits of their labour and lay a solid foundation for the future of their children and grandchildren. And so began the Zanderigo Dynasty in New Zealand.

On 8 September 1961 aged 66, Luigi Francesco Zanderigo.Iona passed away: On 30 March 1970 aged 67 Silvia Tavan Zanderigo.Iona passed away. The descendants of Osvaldo & Gioseffa number some 80 of whom many live in Auckland
New Zealand, and in Sydney & Canberra Australia ::