A long-time St Albans barber who cut hair in his backyard shed for 55 years was farewelled last week.
Aldo Marsani died at home on October 11 after suffering from pneumonia. He was aged 94.
The Italian-born came to Australia in 1952 after serving as a sailor during WWII and being shuffled around several refugee camps as changes were made to borders in post-war central Europe.
Mr Marsani spent two years in Gippsland working on the Thomson River dam project, where he also cut the hair of fellow workers – a skill he had honed since the age of 13.
Coming to the city, he bought a block of land on McIvor Road at St Albans.
It was here he set up the family home and a barber’s salon in the back shed.
Out the front, his first car, a Fiat 1100, still takes pride of place.
Son Fabrizio said Mr Marsani wasn’t exactly an enterprising man – he didn’t advertise his services and never chased new business.
Nevertheless, men would line up to have their locks shorn off.
Many of his customers were also post-war migrants and liked nothing more than discussin
g the changes happening in Europe as they waited to have their haircuts.
Mr Marsani had a very loyal clientele, with some people going to him for 40 or 50 years.
But everyone knew not to disturb him on a Sunday afternoon.
“My fondest memory of my dad is him sitting back on a Sunday afternoon listening to his opera records or his Italian folk records,” Fabrizio said. “That was his ‘relax time’.
“Heaven behold if someone tried to come over and get a haircut on a Sunday afternoon, after he’d had lunch.”
Mr Marsani was still cutting hair until he was 87, when a broken shoulder brought on his “early” retirement.
He was also involved in ANCRI, the Italian equivalent of the RSL, for more than 30 years.
Mr Marsani was farewelled last week during a funeral service in St Albans and was buried at Keilor Cemetery.
He leaves behind his wife of 68 years, Amerina, and sons Fabrizio, Claude and Rudolph.
