It has been 20 years (today) since the two Roman girls, Francesca and Bianka De Fazi, returned the diary of Paul MCartney, "stolen" from his house 20 years earlier.
The hard-backed red volume is packed with notes, doodles and sketches from 1970 - the eventful year in which the Beatles broke up.(News BBC)
The two women in their mid-thirties, sisters Francesca and Bianka de Fazi, talked their way round the star's bodyguards at his Rome hotel following a massive free concert at Rome's Colosseum at the weekend back in 2003. The concert drew an audience of some 500,000 people.
"Naughty girls," McCartney reportedly told them, and signed autographs. He later confirmed that the diary was authentic.
"Perhaps they returned it because they really enjoyed the Rome concert," he said.
'The gate was open' Bianka de Fazi and her sister considered selling the diary
The women told reporters that during a trip to London, aged very young, they had sought out McCartney's house in St. John's Wood, London to take a few snapshots.
"The house was being refurbished and the gate was open. We screwed up our courage and went in," they told the Italian news paper La Repubblica.
"There were all sorts of things: film reels, videos. We took the diary, a pair of boots and some music paper and run out.
Later they considered selling the diary but they were told that they needed a statement by McCartney himself to prove its authenticity, and decided to keep it.
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From the diary:, another entry on April 8 says ''Paul tells John: I'm not a Beatle either'', and then John's deadpan reply ''good, that's two of us''.
Then on April 10 Linda wrote ''Paul leaves Beatles'' and notes ''heavy press hanging around home''.
Notes in the diary include meetings with the press, birthdays and appointments with record companies.
Today, another 20 years have passed since they returned the precious Diary to Sir Paul, which was returned the day after the concert of the Imperial Forums on 11/05/2003. Outside the hotel in Trinità de 'Monti they managed to convince the baddest of the security guys and Paul said going to meet him and before signing an autograph with a dedication. "Naughty girls, bad girls ..." Name under which the two sisters now perform.
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The Abbey Road Naughty Girls are still working on original songs, short music videos and with directors such as Alex Infascelli, for the realization of 'The Extraordinary Life' made for Gedi Visual on Repubblica Web in April 2020. The video can be seen by clicking on the word 'Watch on Facebook' in the player below.
"We thought it would be good to give him his diary back," the sisters said.
"Without his acknowledgement, there was little we could do with it."
