The family behind a successful Hornchurch ice cream parlour has something sweet to celebrate this summer – Fausto and Cesarina Biagioni been married for nearly 67 years.

Mr and Mrs Biagioni, who now live in Shenfield, ran the Fella Bros caf� on Billets Lane for 20 years, specialising in knickerbocker glories, chocolate fudge sundaes and ice cream cakes.

Now aged 92 and 91, the pair are still going strong more than seven decades after they first melted each other’s hearts.

Cesarina said there was no great secret to their success.

“If you love each other, what more do you need?” she said. “You have got to really love someone. We’ve argued like everyone, but I would do it again.”

The going hasn’t always been smooth - the young romance threatened to turn cold during the Second World War when Fausto, known as Fred, was held on the Isle of Man for five years in case he was an Italian spy.

Granddaughter Giuliana, 22, said: “They were together before he went and then my nan said, ‘I won’t bother – I’ll find someone else’, He sent her a love letter and she told her brother to throw it in the bin – she didn’t want to know.

“Her brother hid it away and a week later he came back and said, ‘you should have a read’. So she read it and it said, ‘I’ve missed you so much – please come and see me’ – and that was the first time she visited him.

“They were apart for those five years but it seems it did them good.”

Fifty years after passing the Fellas shop onto their children, the pair are retired – but still make a mean dessert. “We usually get together for a big family dinner and a bit of a party for anniversaries,” said Guiliana. “My granddad’s incredible in the kitchen and my nan’s an amazing cake-baker.”

But when it comes to ice-cream, both Mr and Mrs Biagioni still say simple is best - you can’t beat a bit of vanilla.