Bravo/YouTube Gia Giudice
Gia Giudice shared sad news with her fans on Instagram. The eldest daughter of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice revealed that her great-grandmother passed away.
On her Instagram story, Gia shared several family photos of her late great-grandmother. One photo featured her mother holding her with her grandmother, Filomena Giudice, and her great grandmother, Giuseppina, standing alongside.
“I love you Nonna,” Gia captioned one photo. “Rest easy my love,” she wrote on another.
The 21-year-old also captioned a photo of her large family with, “So blessed to see your great grandchildren.” “You are now in heaven with the best give everyone kisses for me,” she added of another photo.
On her Instagram story, Gia also shared a photo from the funeral with the caption, “I love you Nonna.”
Joe Giudice Paid Tribute to His Nonna on Instagram
Gia’s father Joe Giudice also paid tribute to his late maternal grandmother, Giuseppina.
He captioned an Instagram photo of his late Nonna with, “Just lost my Grandmother 87 and my Uncle Pasquale 94 in one day very sad night.” He also shared several photos of him with his grandmother, including one from his wedding day. “Forever in our hearts,” he captioned another photo.
“Dad I love you so much ❤ she loved you so much,” Gia wrote in the comment section of her father’s post.
An obituary for Giuseppina Sandu posted by NorthJersey.com revealed that she was born in Sala Consilina, Italy, and resided in Paterson, NJ before her death. She was the mother of Nick Granata, Dimitru Sandu, Filomena Giudice, Enza Petrazzuolo, Anna Latona and Domenica Scarnaty. Sandu is survived by 19 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.
In 2014, RHONJ fans saw Joe Giudice’s grandmother when he and his then-wife Teresa threw an 80th birthday for her. The Giudice patriarch also gave a heartfelt speech about his family, which had Gia in tears, afterward, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Joe Giudice Wanted to Come Back to the U.S. to See His Grandmother Again
In 2014, Joe Giudice’s father, Frank, died after collapsing in the garden of the Giudice home in Montville, New Jersey, according to ABC News. Giudice has remained close with his paternal grandmother, Maria.
According to Bravo TV.com, several years ago, while he was awaiting a decision on his deportation case after serving prison time for fraud, Joe temporarily lived in Italy at his grandmother’s small house in the province of Salerno.
At the time, Giudice told Us Weekly that he wanted to move back to New Jersey to be with his children, his mother, and maternal grandmother.
“I would like to be able to see my children again in our home state, be a part of their lives, be physically present when they need me and watch them grow up,” he said at the time. “I yearn to hold my grandmother in my arms again before the time comes [in which] she is no longer on this Earth. [I want to] be with my mother [and] my family, to be in the place I have called home since I was a year old.”
Giudice is still banned from entering the U.S. and currently splits his time between Italy and the Bahamas, according to The Sun. In November 2021, Giudice continued his fight to return to the United States by filing a “waiver of inadmissibility” which could allow him to enter the U.S. “temporarily” as a nonimmigrant, per E! News. He told the outlet that it could take up to a year to get an answer to his waiver request.
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