My Greystones: Andrea Splendori

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new year, and, finally, an old favourite is back on the tracks, as we reintroduce an old Thursday treat.

And who better to relaunch My Greystones with than the groovy, gracious, generous and gregarious Andrea Splendori…?

One of those feckers who not only packs a whole lotta handsome but also has a beautiful wife (young Sylvia, from the Bels of Greystones dynasty) and two beautiful kids, but Andrea is also a really, really, really nice guy.

Doesn’t that make you sick…?

Born in Rome, Andrea grew up in a small seaside town, Ostia, just outside the city, before moving to Ostia Antica – second only to Pompeii for preservered archaelogical Roman ruins, we’re told – at the age of 14. It was in 1991 that our boy landed on Irish shores, with just 700 punts in his back pocket and not a word of de English. Which would explain the dish-washing and brick-carrying jobs. Eight years with an IT company led to a four-year stint in Bangalore, setting up their Indian branch, with a certain Ms Bel also at the helm.

Upon returning to Ireland – and making the natural progression from IT to, eh, the rag trade – Andrea and Sylvia bounced around the Wicklow wilds, threatening their kids with Glenealy and Ashford, before copping the feck on and moving to Greystones. Much to the delight and relief of Phoenix and Mila, now 18 and 16 respectively.

Today, as well as making Greystones a sunnier place to live, you can find Andrea flexing his considerable journalistic muscle as he talks to the great, the good and even the Guide on his chart-topping podcast, Social Fabric, which has just been picked up by Near FM 90.3.

Needless to say, we tried our damndest to find a flaw with this man. Annoyingly, other than the fact that he’s Italian, we couldn’t find any dirt. DAMMIT!