This month, Cesare Bonacini, resident at Riddell Gardens Aged Care in Sunbury, turned 100 years old.
But he said he doesn’t feel old at all.
“I feel maybe 21,” Mr Bonacini said.
“I am wondering if I should try going for another 100.”
Seventy years ago, Mr Bonacini made the decision to leave Italy and settle in Australia, and he said as a 30-year-old, he didn’t even know where Australia was on the map.
He’s seen many things over the past century, but what has stuck in his mind was World War II, because he “was in it”, as well as humans landing on the moon.
“I was very curious to see if there were any other people on the moon,” he said.
The war prevented Mr Bonacini from attending university, and he said if he could go back and do it all again, he would go back and study.
Always funny, Mr Bonacini said the secrets to living a long life were “a lot of whisky, women and [to] live at peace with others around you”.
In sharing a final memory, the centenarian spoke of a humorous mishap when he first came to the country.
“When I was learning English, I wrote a letter to a government teacher… after talking with her for a few weeks I thought she sounded quite young and lovely so I thought I should meet her,” he explained.
“So I went to meet her and I found out she was 70 years of age. I was quite disappointed as you can imagine”
Elsie Lange
