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Blogs /  417 Blog /  May 2008 /  10 Most-Beautiful Finalist: Monica Gilardi /  Monica Gilardi

Monica Gilardi

Age: 40

Occupation: Gilardis Inc, and Succetti Inc.

Background: Monica has lived in Springfield all her life except for a 20-month stay in Los Angeles. She is married to Nicola Gilardi and has three sons, J.R., Nic and Tomaso.

Tell us why you love 417-land.

Family, my entire family lives here except for one sister who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The people are nice and it is a great place to raise a family. The seasons are perfect except winter has gotten a little strange! To have watched Springfield grow has been exciting. I love to tell my kids what wasn't there before like Battlefield when it was a field and South National and Primrose it was a field and a 4 way stop. I like to see the people move a way for a length of time and return with there families to raise them here that should tell us how great 417 land is. There are alot of places to live but people seem to gravitate back here because it is a great town to live in with lots of new and exciting family activities and also for the adults too. I grew up on Table Rock , spending my summers there and it is so close and easy to get to, that in itself is why I like living in Springfield.

What's something that might surprise us about you? (Or a story you love to tell.)

I always wanted to be an actress and a dancer. I did Springfield Little Theater some when I was younger. I played Velma in West Side Story and got to share a dressing room with Kim Crosby. She was one of the nicest people I ever met. I was only 13, so I was thrilled. She didn't live here at the time, so that was very exciting to me.

I have so many. Look who I am married to! A page is not long enough. Okay, I have one cute story. The first time I went to Italy to meet Nicola's family, he conveniently forgot to tell his mother that I was not Catholic until the second day we were there. Now imagine that one. (I am Catholic now).