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This is a love story about a man, a woman and a place in the sun.
Daniel Magill, then a Sky TV sports journalist, was selected to play in the British team in August 2001, in Grado, Northern Italy.
Dan, 23, went there with his girlfriend Claire and was knocked out in the first round 6-0; 6-0 and was also beaten in the consolation singles.
But Dan and Claire had fallen in love with the tiny island’s glorious lagoons, its serene Old Town and its family-friendly beaches.
Left-to-right: Father Patrick Harnett,
Dan (holding Emily) and Claire.
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So they returned to Grado for their holidays for the next two years.
On July 26 2004 Dan and Claire were married in the 6th Century Basillica Sant Eufemia, in the centre of Grado’s old town.
More than 80 of the couple’s Liverpool family, friends and a priest joined them at the church and in the Grand Hotel Fonzari – Grado’s oldest and best hotel.
Back in England, the couple discovered that Claire was expecting their first baby – a Grado wedding day conception. On 23rd April 2005 Emily Rose Magill was born almost nine months’ later to the day.
Grado
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Exactly one year after their wedding, on July 26th 2005, Dan and Claire returned to Basillica Sant Eufemia where Emily was christened. Everybody headed back to the sun-drenched Fonzari roof-terrace for more celebration.
"We were thrilled to have close family and friends with us, for the first time since 2001," said Dan, “It felt like quite a journey, but strangely we always seemed to end up back in the same place.”
Church of Grado
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by Tony Doran
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