Love stories - Danielle & Nicola
The second Love Story of our series is none other than Danielle of Wiskow & White. And what a story it is. Spanning some of the coolest decades in recent history, Danielle and Nicola really did fall in love at first sight.
In the summer of 1975, Danielle was due to start University in London, studying art. Before starting, Danielle had hoped to find a holiday job in Florence. The holiday job didn’t work out but with the help of her mother and a friend who’d moved to Tuscany, Danielle was invited to spend a month with an Italian family.
Danielle arrived at Il Casalone, the home of the Bandini family, at the beginning of June 1975. She spent the month sightseeing and enjoying an Italian lifestyle, with Nicola Bandini. Danielle describes her feeling at the end of the month, “That was it, I had fallen in love with Italy and my exchange partner!”
Nicola travelled back to England with Danielle and they spent July together. This was the beginning of their trips back and forth to visit each other over the years.
Eventually, Danielle moved to Italy to teach English and the couple lived in Rome & Milan. At this time Nicola was a music journalist and together, they saw some amazing gigs and met some of the most famous musicians in the world.
After a few years of this lifestyle, they decided it was time to get married and settle down in Tuscany, back at the Bandini home.
Danielle & Nicola married in May 1982 in the Town hall of Colle di Val d’Elsa. The ceremony was followed by an informal lunch in the family country home. A very traditional Italian wedding all round –
Danielle says,
“Tables and chairs had been hired and laid out in the garden, the neighboring farmers wives roasted a suckling pig in our bread oven and supplied their own home grown farm produce be it cheese, hams, veggies and wine.”
A local pastry shop created and delivered a delicious cream and strawberry wedding cake. Little did they know that Danielle would be managing this catering company some 20 years later!
Nicola’s mother Paola prepared all the floral decorations for the reception, using many of her own roses and personally consigned Danielle’s bouquet before the ceremony in true Italian tradition.
After several visits to Milanese ateliers in search of the wedding dress Danielle’s attention was caught by a white pure linen embroidered dress hanging on a flea market stall. That was the dress. Danielle added some dusty pink touches and did her best to convince her mother in law that she would be suitably dressed for the wedding day!
Did Danielle ever imagine she would be professionally planning country weddings like hers some 30+ years later! We don’t think so!