AN AUSTRALIAN woman in possession of an incredible World War II photo album, thought to be the property of an Italian soldier, is on a hunt to find its original owner.

Rachel Evans of Newcastle, NSW, recently discovered the photographs in a collection of albums her family owned and became fascinated with the mysterious photographs of people she’d never heard of.

Rachel decided to use the power of social media to help return the album to its rightful owner, and created a Facebook page.

“All we ask is that you share this page among your networks, to any Defence contacts, internet sleuths, history buffs, genealogy researchers and anywhere else where it may reach someone that can help us,” she wrote on the page wall.

Clues in the photographs indicate the owner of the album comes from Bellagio, Italy. Rachel informed news.com.au of other clues she’s discovered so far in her investigations. READ THE CLUES HERE.

HISTORY OF THE ALBUM

“My grandfather brought the album back from WW2,” Rachel said. “He never spoke about it although his family knew it was there. To my knowledge he was serving in the Middle East when they were recalled in a hurry due to the bombing of Darwin, and this is where he returned with the album.”

Rachel believes the owner was a member of the Italian Alpine Corps, and his brother was in the Navy.

PHOTOGRAPHS

CLUES SO FAR...

1) From a reunion photo, at Restaurant Silvio Loppia, in Bellagio, Italy, we believe he was born in 1915. Many of the photos are taken in Bellagio, so we believe they are from that region.

2) The brother signs his name as Cecco, which can be a shortening of a name or a nickname, on the back of one of the photos (soldiers with the flag) is “a reminder of naia (1 year of service) at the camp. Your brother Cecco”. The brother was in Tripoli on the Amerigo Vespucci, which I believe is a naval training ship.

3) One of the photos (portrait of a male in uniform, leaning on a pedestal of some kind) has noted “a gift to my close friend Carlo Gandola, a friend for a long time, Adamo Gilardoni”.

4) Another photo (portrait — chest up — of a young man, wearing a uniform with tie and lapels) is noted to Carlo Gondala from Dominico Gilardoni.

5) I have found a birth record (can be found on the Facebook page) for Adamo Gilardoni, born Bellagio in 1915, and a listing for a fallen soldier for Dominico GIlardoni, also born in Bellagio in 1915. From this we believe the album belongs to either the Gilardoni or Gondala family. Unfortunately the names are very common, I’ve been told they are the equivalent of the Aussie John Smith.

Do you know anything about these photographs? Can you help translate Italian? Visit the Facebook page to contact Rachel. https://www.facebook.com/reunitefamilyphotos

Alternatively you can email news.com.au with your information and we’ll pass it on: stories@news.com.au