In early 2015, Monika Ruggerino was helping her friend organise a 30th birthday party at Verde, a restaurant in Darlinghurst, Sydney. During a tasting, she met the head chef and owner, Antonio, whose Calabrian charisma and smile left her breathless.
The Fateful Day
On the day of the party, Monika arrived early to decorate the private dining room. While rearranging a lamp made from an old sambuca bottle, she accidentally broke it. A waitress whisked it away, but Antonio stormed upstairs in a rage. However, upon seeing Monika, his anger softened into a flirtatious grin, saying, 'Well I can't be mad at you now can I?'
A Coffee and a Connection
The next day, Monika returned to collect her decorations. Antonio invited her for coffee, and they chatted about her job in the jewellery trade and her recent trip to Italy. Months later, after a breakup and quitting her job at Bvlgari, Monika bought an apartment and started her own jewellery brand.
Then Antonio called, having heard she was single. He asked her out for dinner. Walking into a Potts Point restaurant that Sunday evening, Monika saw him waiting with that incredible smile and felt an overwhelming sense of being home. 'I knew then and there that I was in love,' she says.
A Life Built Together
They married four years later and have two children. The function room where they first met hosted her hen's party, baby showers, and now serves as her jewellery studio. Breaking that lamp, Monika reflects, was a true Sliding Doors moment that changed the course of her life.
