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Guest Character Profiles > Lucia Cammeniti Maria Mercedes

Lucia Cammeniti 2004-
Lived: Cammeniti house
Marital Status: Rocco Cammeniti (divorced)
Children: Rosetta, Rosaria and Carmella
Family Tree: Cammeniti
Occupation: Businesswoman

As the wife of philandering Rocco Cammeniti, Lucia was used to getting her own way in both her business and personal lives. When Rocco was sent to prison as a result of his various crimes, Lucia kept control of the family businesses. She then brought her daughter, Carmella, back from school in Italy to stand in for her as editor of All Her magazine.

Carmella’s return to Erinsborough saw her reunited with her ex-boyfriend, Connor O’Neill. As the relationship grew more serious, Connor and Lucia got to meet. Although things went reasonably well, Lucia has her reservations when she found out that Connor had a baby daughter, Maddy, from a previous relationship. When Carmella decided to move in with Connor, Lucia made a secret pact with him to challenge his worth. The first challenge saw him forced to turn $500 into $1000 overnight. When a man, Dan Stevens, came into the pub and asked about the secret recipe for O’Neill’s beer, Connor saw his chance and sold him a recipe, albeit a fake one, thus completing his first challenge.

Soon after, Lucia arrived to see Connor with a suitcase. She told him that it contained sensitive information, which could hurt Carmella if she were to find out, before instructing him to take it to the family’s solicitor across town. Unfortunately, a mix-up with recently-blinded Stuart Parker saw the suitcase get mixed up with Stu’s work case. As Connor raced to stop his friend from opening Lucia’s case, he arrived just in time to grab it, but it fell open at his feet. Inside, he found a note from Lucia, saying that she knew that he’d open the case. Later that day, as he tried to explain to her exactly what had happened, Lucia told Connor that he’d passed with flying colours, as any loving boyfriend would want to find out the information inside and prevent his girlfriend getting hurt. Realising that Carmella was Connor’s top priority and satisfied that he was good enough for her little girl, Lucia finally backed off.

The following year, Lucia was back in Ramsay Street, but this time, it was deal with another of her daughters, Rosetta. With Carmella having entered the convent, then given it up, Lucia had turned her back on her, and put all of her efforts into finding a nice man for Rosetta, who was training to be a lawyer, but struggled to cope when dealing with the opposite sex. Having landed a clerkship with Tim Collins, Rosetta moved to a house in nearby Ramsay Street, coincidentally renting a room at number 30, where Carmella had once stayed. Within days of Rosetta moving in, Lucia was on the doorstep, demanding to know why Rosie had turned her back on Johnny Brown, the man she had found for her to marry. After a long chat, during with Lucia reminded her daughter that she would never find a man and be happy on her own, Rosie agreed to move back home and marry Johnny. When she broke the news to her new housemates, Pepper, Will and Frazer, they all managed to talk her into standing up to her mum and staying in Ramsay Street. And so, the next morning, when Lucia returned, Rosie told her that she wouldn't be returning home, or marrying Johnny, before throwing her mother out of the house. But it seemed as though Frazer didn't exactly have Rosie's best interests at heart when he later tracked down Lucia at The General Store and offered to keep her updated on Rosie's life and relationships, if she could make it worth his while.

In the months that followed, it emerged that Frazer was actually Johnny’s younger brother, George, who’d left home and changed his name in his teens, but had heard about Johnny and Rosie’s engagement and subsequent split, and had followed her to Ramsay Street hoping to get in with her and the rich Cammeniti family. Though his plan worked, he found himself genuinely falling for Rosie and admitted everything. The pair worked through their problems and by mid-2007, were engaged. Lucia came to the Scarlet Bar to be formally introduced to Frazer, but was horrified to realise that her daughter’s fiancé was now in a wheelchair, following an accident at the racetrack. Lucia tried to make her daughter see that she would spend the rest of her life as a carer and may never be able to have a family of her own, but Rosie made it clear that she and Frazer were sticking together, whether she liked it or not. Realising that Rosie was serious about the wedding and wouldn't be swayed, Lucia and Cammeniti aunts Sofia and Angelica, headed to Ramsay Street to begin the wedding plans, completely swamping Rosie with thoughts and ideas. Frazer quickly put her in her place, telling her that while she was under his roof, she would show Rosie more respect. Lucia was impressed with his outburst, admitting that a strong woman like Rosie needed a strong man to rely on and, despite his wheelchair, Frazer was clearly that. Lucia then returned to the wedding plans, announced that she would be paying for everything, and sent Frazer off "to watch a horse race or something."

A few weeks later, the big day finally dawned, though Lucia was far from impressed to find out that Rosie had managed to get Rocco a day release from prison to attend the wedding. As she waited outside the church for the bride to arrive, Lucia saw Rocco arrive with his police escort and warned him that if anything went wrong, she would kill him. Fortunately for Rocco, the ceremony went ahead without any problems and the proud parents both watched as their eldest daughter finally got the wedding of her dreams. A couple of weeks after the wedding, Lucia turned up at 30 Ramsay Street with the wedding photos, only to spot Rosie with a pair of baby booties. She quickly jumped to the obvious conclusion, only to learn that it was Carmella who was expecting. After finding out that Carmella's ex-boyfriend Oliver was the father, Lucia encouraged her youngest daughter to try and win him back from his new girlfriend Elle despite Carmella's claims that she was no longer interested in him. Lucia's plot to reunite Carmella and Oliver continued, as she turned up at the hospital, just as Carmella and Oliver were finishing a pregnancy yoga class. As Carmella rushed off to the loo, Lucia told Oliver that Carmella still had feelings for him. She then reminded him that although he thought he was going to be a part of the baby's life, if he and Carmella weren't a couple, they would be living in separate houses and the baby might even be calling someone else 'dad'.

When Rosie was called away to a family emergency in Rome, only days before offically completing her articles and becoming a lawyer. Lucia, along with Rosie's many friends, made sure that, even though she wasn't there, the event did not go unmarked and they had a lunch to celebrate. Lucia used the opportunity to remind Carmella that it would be nice if her baby could be born into a loving relationship, like that of Frazer and Rosie, though Carmella was still determined that she had moved on from Oliver.

Trivia Notes
• Maria Mercedes also made guest appearances as Estelle Petrides in 2022

Tenure
4646, 4653, 5076, 5229, 5247, 5261, 5278, 5284, 5294

Biography by Steve