She is a traditionalist, and disapproved when her grandson's wife, Sandra (Clare Wilkie), opted to go back to work instead of staying at home to look after her son, Joe (Jake Kyprianou).

Luisa is often troubled by the antics of her grandchildren and when she sees her youngest granddaughter, Nicky (Carly Hillman), kissing Martin Fowler (James Alexandrou), the shock is too much and she suffers a stroke shortly before Bruno's birthday in July 1998.

She recovers but remains frail and in December Bruno and Luisa decide to take a trip to Italy to discover their homeland together, before it is too late.

The following year Luisa sends over an Italian salami from Italy, which is responsible for giving several of the di Marcos a bout of food poisoning.

Rosa initially blames café worker, Mick McFarlane (Sylvester Williams), for serving unsanitary food, which leads to him being sacked in May 1999.

[3] The di Marcos "landed with an almighty thud in January [1998], turning out in force for the funeral of patriarch Giuseppe", who was Bruno's son and an old business associate of the character George Palmer.

[4] The following month, the family moved to the area in which the soap is set, Walford, to run an Italian restaurant, which they named "Giuseppe's".

[7] Only six months after their introduction, in June 1998, the newly appointed executive producer of EastEnders, Matthew Robinson, made the decision to axe Luisa and Bruno.

[8] Other axed characters included Sanjay, Gita and Neelam Kapoor, George Palmer, Ruth Fowler, Michael and Susan Rose and Chris Clarke.

The rest of the di Marcos remained with the show until 2000, when a new executive producer, John Yorke, decided to cull the majority of the family.

In the book, the author, Rupert Smith, writes :"Nobody really knew what to do with the di Marco family, who had been languishing in the pizza restaurant without a decent storyline between them.

Rosa, who presumably owned the house she'd transformed into something resembling an Imperial Palace, is suddenly prepared to leg it with a couple of suitcases?

"[7] The di Marcos have been dismissed as "unconvincing characters", and Bruno and Luisa were ridiculed, with Baylis suggesting that their "foreign mannerisms would have gone down great in any production of Fiddler On The Roof".

The writers and the viewers buy into a myth that people aren't particularly complex, that the full range of their feelings and actions can be revealed in a few hours on the TV.

If any di Marco wanted a night out, a pint in the Vic, a clandestine liaison, then an excuse had to be found as to why they weren't working.

Transforming Giuseppe's into a daytime sandwich bar, and sending Teresa onto the market were bold rescue attempts, but they came too late.