MELBOURNE – The role of grandparents has long been a cornerstone of society. In them we find the wisdom that comes from life experience, an unconditional love for their grandchildren, and the awareness that every moment together should be savoured.

Grandparent life can look very different depending on the age at which you’re lucky enough to gain that status, but there’s a common feeling shared by the three grandparents we spoke to—and likely by many reading these lines: that love for your grandchildren can even surpass the love you feel for your own children.

Rosa Oppedisano, president of the Ascot Vale Pensioners’ Club since 25 May and grandmother of four, said without hesitation that for her having grandchildren “was something wonderful, especially with the first, whom I looked after for many years while his mum was busy”.

With Paul, 24, Emilia, 18, Jonah, 17, and Rocco, 12, Rosa admits she’s been more patient than she was with her own children, also because, she explained, “grandchildren are a piece of a grandmother’s heart”.

And the experiences change as they grow; with the older kids, Nonna Rosa tries to pass on Italian culture, so they all get together to make sausages or tomato passata - a moment of sharing and the creation of indelible memories that blend affection and tradition. She has told them the story of when, at 17, she left for Australia “on the ship Galileo Galilei, from the port of Messina.”

Maria Dimattia has just returned from Italy, where she and her husband Paolo travelled with their grandchildren Tahlia, 21, and Paul, 19. “A first for the kids, who really insisted on visiting Italy with us for the first time,” Maria said.

It was an unforgettable experience to share with their grandparents, a journey into their roots and a chance to meet the Italian side of the family. “We spent most of the time at my husband’s sister’s place in Altamura, where the kids met lots of relatives and cousins, including some their age, and they had a great time,” she recounted.

Grandmother and grandchildren together discovered the magic of Rome, Venice and Positano, and they also visited Calabria, where Maria’s family comes from. Becoming a grandmother at 45, Dimattia found herself thinking back to the huge love she felt when her first grandchildren, Stephanie and Luke—now 26 and 24—were born: “It was wonderful to have so much time to spend with them and watch them grow.”

Mimmo Mangione, grandfather of Mason, 13, and Giselle, 4, talked about his playful approach with the children: “I do things I never thought I’d do before becoming a grandfather”.

“Because,” he explained, “with the grandkids you become a child again, you become accomplices, you grow in another dimension.”

The shift from being a parent to being a grandparent is something the stage actor and writer would make “compulsory, because it makes you understand the importance of life and the joy of living.”

A man who has spent his life on stage, both acting and directing, Mangione is used to drawing on his imagination and loves doing it with Giselle, the youngest grandchild: “With her I have fun inventing fairy tales; I even weave in anecdotes from my past and my life. I remember when, in Sicily, we’d gather around a tree on summer evenings and, pointing to a star, we’d make up a story. I do the same with Giselle: we go out into the garden, look at the flowers and dedicate a little story to each one; it’s beautiful.”

Speaking about the difference between being a parent and being a grandparent, Mangione observed that “with the grandkids, love becomes much simpler, more natural, more organic.”

“Without complications. With your children you work hard to give them an education to face life, to save them from making your same mistakes; so, it’s an effort that requires more focus. With your grandkids, everything becomes more relaxing”.

That special bond endures as they grow up: for Mason, now in his early teens, Grandad remains a “refuge”.