Twin sisters Francesca and Maria Ricciardi celebrated their 100th birthday on January 23. Born on January 23, 1923, the twins had a joint birthday party in which they doubled up their ages and celebrated their “200th birthday.” They shared a large cake shaped into the number 200 that was delicately piped with white icing and decorated with pink and white flowers.
The sisters celebrated their birthday with more than 50 children, grandchildren and family members, some of which came all the way from the United States for the special occasion. “It is God’s gift to live until this age. With the life we had, we could not have possibly imagined that we’d live to be 100 years old,” said Francesca.
Take a look below at the sisters celebrating their 200th birthday together.
Asia London Palomba
Asia London Palomba is a trilingual freelance journalist from Rome, Italy. In the past, her work on culture, travel, and history has been published in The Boston Globe, Atlas Obscura,The Christian Science Monitor and Grub Street, New York Magazine's food section. In her free time, Asia enjoys traveling home to Italy to spend time with family and friends, drinking Hugo Spritzes, and making her nonna's homemade cavatelli.