Big award for Paarlite
2006-02-16
IN Paarl she is known as the egg lady who makes the best pasta in town. But that’s not why Domenica Ferucci is now being honoured by the Italian government.
Domenica (82) is one of thirty women living abroad who will travel to their home country to receive the “best Italian ladies award” from President Silvio Berlusconi.
She and her husband Pietro emigrated to South Africa after a family member, a prisoner of war, sent a message about the promising business possibilities in South Africa.
Shortly after their arrival in 1954 Pietro, a builder by trade, bought two chickens. Years later Domenica was raising their son - and hundreds of thousands of chickens - on the Rozendal Farm in Klein Drakenstein.
At the height of her business she employed 400 people and distributed 20 000 chickens and 25 000 eggs to supermarkets.
Pietro died nearly 30 years ago. Their son Feruccio took charge of the chicken business after matriculating in 1962, and built it into one of the largest poulty farms in the Western Cape.
Domenica and her pet poodles lived on the farm until two years ago, when she moved to a flat in Paarl.
Employees remember her fondly as the woman who was always there for them, a woman who worked fast and talked perhaps even faster.
“She is a wonderful woman. We often did not understand what she was saying,” they smile.
“She never lost her Italian accent. But we learnt to listen carefully. We had to - she also has a fiery temper. She knew how to get us to toe the line. But we loved her, we still do.”
Domenica is being honoured as businesswoman, but also for her work in the Italian community. She was the driving force behind the establishment of the Italian Club in Paarl and often entertained Italians visiting the country.
She still visits, cares for and cooks her famous Italian dishes for her older countrymen living in Paarl.
They all agree, Domenica is worth the award in gold (and pasta).
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