From a Gold Coast private school to working for the Pope and marrying one of his Swiss Guards — Joanne Bergamin's story sounds like something from a Hollywood movie plot.
Growing up, Mrs Bergamin's family travelled to Rome annually as part of their jewellery business operation.
"It's their fault really that I moved to Rome," she said.
More than a decade ago, Mrs Bergamin threw caution to the wind and boarded a plane to Italy.
She had no job lined up and only expected to stay for a year, but before long the enterprising young woman found work selling Prada shoes on the Isle of Capri.
Working for a glamorous fashion label and living on a Mediterranean island would usually be enough to satisfy any young traveller, but for Mrs Bergamin the adventure was just beginning.
The young woman spent her days learning Italian but there was another interest which would become a life-changing passion.
"I was studying theology just as a way to stay in Rome [and had to apply for a] student visa every year," she said.
As she grew used to her new life in Italy, Mrs Bergamin was offered a job as a journalist on Pope Benedict's newspaper and had daily encounters with the famed Swiss Guards, the pontiff's personal army.
"It was a baptism of fire because I'd only just become a Catholic," she said.
Achieving career goals within the Vatican
Drawing similarities between 1953 movie Roman Holiday starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, in which a lonely princess falls in love with an American reporter, Mrs Bergamin said her new love would give her tickets to papal events and passed on sweets from the Pope himself.
"Who gets sweets from the Pope?
"I really fell in love with [Pope Benedict] and the Catholic church because I had to translate everything he said and did every day.
"He's the dream grandfather anyone would want. He's humble and kind. When you talk to him you feel like you're the only two people in the universe."
By the time the couple wed, newly installed Pope Francis was on hand to offer blessings.
Mrs Bergamin married her husband Dominic in the oldest church inside the Vatican — a chapel called St Stephen of the Abyssinians which was built by Pope Leo in the 400s.
And, during her decade at the Vatican, Mrs Bergamin became the first female, non-Swiss secretary to the Commander of the Swiss Guard.
COVID-enforced lockdown spent in Pope's gardens
In another scene from her movie-script life, the Bergamins were locked down in the Vatican for three months under COVID restrictions.
And her Instagram account went viral.
"I can name all the turtles in the Vatican gardens," she said.
A year ago, the Bergamins moved to Tugun on Queensland's Gold Coast.
"I have to pinch myself nearly every day to think that I've done that," Mrs Bergamin said.
