Ferruccio Pietro and Umile Guidi

Enrico Guidi and Mary Dal Col marriage

Filicaia, Tuscany, was the place of birth of the early Guidi family. It is located north of Lucca in a valley between the Appenimes and the Italian Alps along the beautiful Serchio Ribver.  Ferruccio Pietro Guidi, the son of Enrico Guidi and Maria Rossi, was born in 1888. He met and married Maria Umile Coli in January 1911, in Filicaia. In 1912, after the birth of their daughter Isabella, Ferruccio left for Canada. In 1914, Umile joined her husband in Kelowna, leaving Isabella with her parents in Italy. In 1921, Umile and Ferruccio with their son Enrico (born in Kelowna in 1917) returned to Italy to establish a business.  Renato (1923) and Lorenzo (1926) were added to their family.  Due to the the political situation in Italy, Ferruccio sold his business and returned to Kelowna in 1926.  His family followed in 1929.

Ferruccio worked for many years for Kelowna Building Supplies.

He had a passion for Opera. In Italy, he would travel to Lucca to see live performances. In Canada, every Saturday he would listen to “Live from the Met” from New York.
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Maria Umile was given a lifetime membership in the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club. She was a gourmet cook of Florentine foods. Enrico served in the WW2 in the Ninth Armoured Regiment of the BC Dragoon in Italy and the Netherlands; he was present for the Liberation of the Netherlands. Upon his release he returned to work at Calona Wines and became a blender of wines, until his retirement. He was also a great softball pitcher in the thirties.

Audrey O’Malley,  granddaugher of Ferruccio and Umile Guidi.