Mr De Marco has lived in the same house for 100 years.
Mr De Marco, who lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was born in Italy in 1902 but moved to England when he was seven when Edward VII was on the Throne and Manchester United won the FA Cup for the first time.
When he turned 100, Mr De Marco received a certficate from the Pope, the equivalent of a 100 year old receiving a telegram from the Queen.
He is now an avid fan of north London team Tottenham Hotspur, and has Spurs memorabilia all over the walls of his house.
And he has vowed he will never live anywhere else.
Man lives in same house for 100 years
Alfonso De Marco has lived in the same house for 100 years after arriving in England from Italy as a seven year-old.
26 Apr 2009
Daily Mail
Mr De Marco is pictured (left) with a certificate sent to him by Pope John Paul II, while (right) his father stands outside the same Eastbourne address in 1919 Photo: M&Y
Mr De Marco was born near the southern Italian city of Cassino in 1902 before moving to Eastbourne to join his father Guiseppe who had relocated to East Sussex in 1885.
They ran an ice cream parlour from the same seaside building Mr De Marco still calls home.
Upon turning 100 – and receiving a certificate from Pope John Paul II – Mr De Marco was offered the chance to live with one of his three daughters; Pierina Caira, 78, Elisa Fieldwick, 74, and Anita Dipilla, 62, but he turned them down.
The great-great grandfather said: "I love it here, it is my home. I could have moved somewhere else but I have never wanted to. My daughters have asked me to move in with them, but I am happy here.
"The street has changed a lot since I was a boy. I remember seeing horses pulling carts up and down this street, and smelling chestnuts being roasted.
"It is different now, it is much noisier, but I still love it – there are a lot of memories for me in this house.
"My daughters grew up here, and my father lived here, so I cannot imagine living anywhere else, or anywhere better."
The house has barely changed since Alfredo first moved in with its Victorian wood-panelled exterior and single-glazed windows.
Inside, memorabilia of Alfredo's beloved Tottenham Hotspur and photographs of the family tracing right back to the early 1900s cover the walls.
Apart from brief stint doing National Service in his native Italy with the prestigious Bersagliere regiment apart, Alfredo has lived and worked in Eastbourne for the last century.
Daughter Elisa added: "The De Marco family has been in this building almost 125 years, and even though the rest of the road has changed and become more like a shopping precinct, our little house remains the same as it always was.
"The house is like another member of the family, really.
"My sisters and I all grew up here and the whole family has a great connection with the place – we all still come round here for Christmas to see him and to be in the house.
"Dad is not interested in moving  this used to be his ice cream parlour so he is comfortable with his surroundings and the house is really an extension of him now.
"He goes into respite care every six weeks, but he is always desperate to get home."
Alfredo's eldest daughter Pierina added: "It is incredible that he has lived here for so long – there can't be many people who have lived in the same house for as long as he has.
"He can still get up and down the stairs on his own, and he still laughs and jokes about.
"His sisters lived to ripe old ages as well, so he must have good genes – either that or all the ice cream he has eaten has done the trick."
BRITAIN IN 1909
In 1909, King Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria, was on the Throne. Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the title of Prince of Wales and was heir apparent to the throne for longer than anyone else in history. He died in 1910, allowing his son George V, Elizabeth II's grandfather, to become King.
Herbert Asquith was the Prime Minister. His opponents nicknamed him "Squiffy" because of his fondness for alcohol.
In the 1909 FA Cup Final, Manchester United beat Bristol City 1-0. The match was played in front of a crowd of almost 72,000 at Crystal Palace, south London (England's national football stadium, Wembley, wasn't built until 1923). Nowadays United are the world's biggest football team, but this was their first, and Bristol City's first, FA Cup Final. Inside-left Sandy Turnbull scored the goal after 22 minutes. Mr De Marco's beloved Spurs won the FA Cup eight years previously.
Manchester United during the 1909 FA Cup Final against Bristol City
The Imperial Cricket Conference was founded in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa. It was renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name, the International Cricket Council, in 1989.
The first ever rugby match was played at Twickenham, England's national rugby stadium, that year. The Harlequins beat Richmond. Until 1907, the area the stadium was built on was a market garden, which earned the stadium the nickname "Cabbage Patch." Today it has a capacity of 82,000.
And Frenchman Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the English Channel (thus a large open body of water) in a heavier-than-air craft in that year
dailymail.co.uk
Mr De Marco, who lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was born in Italy in 1902 but moved to England when he was seven when Edward VII was on the Throne and Manchester United won the FA Cup for the first time.
When he turned 100, Mr De Marco received a certficate from the Pope, the equivalent of a 100 year old receiving a telegram from the Queen.
He is now an avid fan of north London team Tottenham Hotspur, and has Spurs memorabilia all over the walls of his house.
And he has vowed he will never live anywhere else.
Man lives in same house for 100 years
Alfonso De Marco has lived in the same house for 100 years after arriving in England from Italy as a seven year-old.
26 Apr 2009
Daily Mail
Mr De Marco is pictured (left) with a certificate sent to him by Pope John Paul II, while (right) his father stands outside the same Eastbourne address in 1919 Photo: M&Y
Mr De Marco was born near the southern Italian city of Cassino in 1902 before moving to Eastbourne to join his father Guiseppe who had relocated to East Sussex in 1885.
They ran an ice cream parlour from the same seaside building Mr De Marco still calls home.
Upon turning 100 – and receiving a certificate from Pope John Paul II – Mr De Marco was offered the chance to live with one of his three daughters; Pierina Caira, 78, Elisa Fieldwick, 74, and Anita Dipilla, 62, but he turned them down.
The great-great grandfather said: "I love it here, it is my home. I could have moved somewhere else but I have never wanted to. My daughters have asked me to move in with them, but I am happy here.
"The street has changed a lot since I was a boy. I remember seeing horses pulling carts up and down this street, and smelling chestnuts being roasted.
"It is different now, it is much noisier, but I still love it – there are a lot of memories for me in this house.
"My daughters grew up here, and my father lived here, so I cannot imagine living anywhere else, or anywhere better."
The house has barely changed since Alfredo first moved in with its Victorian wood-panelled exterior and single-glazed windows.
Inside, memorabilia of Alfredo's beloved Tottenham Hotspur and photographs of the family tracing right back to the early 1900s cover the walls.
Apart from brief stint doing National Service in his native Italy with the prestigious Bersagliere regiment apart, Alfredo has lived and worked in Eastbourne for the last century.
Daughter Elisa added: "The De Marco family has been in this building almost 125 years, and even though the rest of the road has changed and become more like a shopping precinct, our little house remains the same as it always was.
"The house is like another member of the family, really.
"My sisters and I all grew up here and the whole family has a great connection with the place – we all still come round here for Christmas to see him and to be in the house.
"Dad is not interested in moving  this used to be his ice cream parlour so he is comfortable with his surroundings and the house is really an extension of him now.
"He goes into respite care every six weeks, but he is always desperate to get home."
Alfredo's eldest daughter Pierina added: "It is incredible that he has lived here for so long – there can't be many people who have lived in the same house for as long as he has.
"He can still get up and down the stairs on his own, and he still laughs and jokes about.
"His sisters lived to ripe old ages as well, so he must have good genes – either that or all the ice cream he has eaten has done the trick."
BRITAIN IN 1909
In 1909, King Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria, was on the Throne. Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the title of Prince of Wales and was heir apparent to the throne for longer than anyone else in history. He died in 1910, allowing his son George V, Elizabeth II's grandfather, to become King.
Herbert Asquith was the Prime Minister. His opponents nicknamed him "Squiffy" because of his fondness for alcohol.
In the 1909 FA Cup Final, Manchester United beat Bristol City 1-0. The match was played in front of a crowd of almost 72,000 at Crystal Palace, south London (England's national football stadium, Wembley, wasn't built until 1923). Nowadays United are the world's biggest football team, but this was their first, and Bristol City's first, FA Cup Final. Inside-left Sandy Turnbull scored the goal after 22 minutes. Mr De Marco's beloved Spurs won the FA Cup eight years previously.
Manchester United during the 1909 FA Cup Final against Bristol City
The Imperial Cricket Conference was founded in 1909 by representatives from England, Australia and South Africa. It was renamed the International Cricket Conference in 1965, and took up its current name, the International Cricket Council, in 1989.
The first ever rugby match was played at Twickenham, England's national rugby stadium, that year. The Harlequins beat Richmond. Until 1907, the area the stadium was built on was a market garden, which earned the stadium the nickname "Cabbage Patch." Today it has a capacity of 82,000.
And Frenchman Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the English Channel (thus a large open body of water) in a heavier-than-air craft in that year
dailymail.co.uk
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