House & Garden Article - August 2009

The Fanuli family

STORY SARAH PICKETTE – PHOTOGRAPHY NICK WATT

There’s a street in Sydney that really ought to be renamed ‘Fanuli Avenue’ – because until recently the Fanuli family owned four houses in a row there.

“My parents came to Australia from Italy in 1956 and settled in Coogee,” says Fabio Fanuli, a director of Fanuli Furniture. “Ten years later, they bought a home in a neighbouring suburb. When the time came to expand, instead of adding another storey they bought the house next door and incorporated it into their home.”

Fabio and his brother Sandro later purchased and moved into the house two doors down. Then, when the house in between was passed in for sale, Fabio decided to buy it for an investment property – and his other brother Carlo now resides there.

Not only were my two brothers and I living on the street, we were all working together in the family business too,” says Fabio. Three years ago, he and his family bought a new home – a whole kilometre away – as did Sandro and his family.

“It was hard on my parents when we did move: they loved having all of us so close. The good thing about living a little bit further away is that we now make the time to go and visit.”

Fabio attributes the family’s closeness in part to their Italian heritage, “When I was growing up, our relatives would get together weekly and play cards or have a meal. Now we continue that tradition.”