Aldo Tenisci, 39, Folgore (Italian Air Force, Special Corps) captain, pilot in 1989 in Palm Springs, California, was sent to Bosnia in 1995. In Sarajevo he met Sanja, a Serbian refugee, and never left her since then. Thanks to captain Tenisci's outstanding merits on the war field, Dutch Ambassador Daan Evers asked the Italian government to allocate him permanently as human Rights representative for the OSCE. He married his Sanja in Ortona, then they went back to Albania. In an orphanage where she worked they found an 8-month-old child and adopted him. They are now living in Tirana, but in late 2000 they'll move to the Nato base in Pozzuoli, Italy.

Giuseppina Persia, born 1894, will celebrate her 106th birthday on 24 january. She lives with her 80-year-old daughter, and does not think her own age is exceptional, considering her genealogical tree: her sister is almost 100, another sister died at 94. Her wish for the new millennium: «Serenity to everybody - It's what helped me overcome difficult moments».

84-year-old Antonietta Del Conte has made a crib with cloth figures, which she calls "li pupucce": 102 in all, they are all perfecly studied, peasant women with shawls and precious lace, men with waistcoats, hens made with cane roots, a castle and houses, furniture carved in wood, Magi carrying real gold. Obliged to bed, Antonietta has put her whole life into this 4-year-long creation.

Vincenzo Perrotti, 100 years old today, will celebrate with son Giampiero, retired journalist, sister Antonella and grandchildren Stefano and Valerio. Born in Civitaquana (Pescara) on 5 january 1900, an agriculture surveyor for the Province of Chieti, he lost his wife Rosa Salvatore, in 1991. For his job he walked throughout the province, and still would like to go walking like then.

All the children are invited tomorrow at 15.30 in piazza della Repubblica, to move then for a Befana party to the ludoteca comunale (via Monte Grappa) where they'll meet the Magis, Santa Claus, Snowwhite, Cinderella, Pinocchio and of course the Befana. A little gift for everybody, and an invitation to donate toys or an offer for underprivileged children.