‘Always there for each other’: Identical twins celebrate 85th birthday

By Pete Fontaine
Posted 8/25/16

Angelo Michele and Ernesto Rocco Capobianco may just be the most unique set of identical twins in Rhode Island.

“Even at age 85, their faces are still the same,” Louisa Capobianco Iannotti, …

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‘Always there for each other’: Identical twins celebrate 85th birthday

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Angelo Michele and Ernesto Rocco Capobianco may just be the most unique set of identical twins in Rhode Island.

“Even at age 85, their faces are still the same,” Louisa Capobianco Iannotti, the twins’ sister, mused the other morning about Angelo and Ernesto, or Ernie, who were born on August 6, 1931, to Julia and Ernesto Capobianco. “And they were born at our home at 1225 Plainfield St. [in Johnston].”

Moreover, they almost always worked – and worshiped – close to home.

The Capobiancos owned and operated the once popular Pocasset Market – where people’s word bought them credit like today’s plastic cards do for millions of people – and they attended Mass at St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, which is almost next door to their one-time homestead.

“My brothers’ lives have been filled with lots and lots of unusual happenings,” Louisa said during the recent 85th birthday party for the twins at Top of the Bay Restaurant in Warwick. “Even at age 85, they are still inseparable. They are always there for each other, even if it’s just a telephone call.”

People who know the Capobianco twins remember when they played in a band called the Rhythm Boys with their brother-in-law, Bill Iannotti.

“We did everything together,” said Louisa, whose late husband Bill passed away 14 years ago. “We took trips together, we went to restaurants together. We were as close as if we were triplets.”

Louisa recalled one of the twins’ most memorable moments, when they were on a cruise.

“My brother Ernie walked by a mirror and was actually looking at himself and thought he was talking to Angelo, who was standing nearby at the elevator,” she said with a laugh. “Another example came when we were on another cruise and had to go through immigration. One brother was way ahead of the other, and when the other arrived at the desk the interviewer asked, “Didn’t I clear you before?’”

Just how close, though, are these unique identical twin brothers?

Angelo and Ernie are godparents to each other’s first-born child, and they both have West Highland White Terriers.

“I just love hearing their life stories,” said Julie Capobianco, Angelo’s daughter, who organized the 85th birthday bash. “Years ago, back when my Aunt Louisa was three years old, she remembers playing outside with a friend when my Papa Capobianco came running out of the house shouting – in Italian, of course – ‘Twins! It’s boys!’ Papa was so excited, he ran through Thornton announcing the happy news.”

The Capobianco twins also have a rare work ethic. They didn’t retire from their meat-cutting jobs until they were 80 years old. In their post-Pocasset Market life, Angelo worked at Tom’s Market in Coventry and Ernie at the former Ruggieri’s in Cranston.

“Zillions of people came to the market,” Louisa recalled of the Pocasset Market, which was located at 1229 Plainfield St. Their farther opened the business in the early 1900s after coming to Johnston from Italy. The twins operated the market until selling it in 1990.

At the 85th birthday party, the twins tried to trick Angelo’s great grandson, Leo, by saying that Ernie was his Papa. Leo quickly said no, that is Uncle Ernie, and then hugged his Papa Angelo. He said he knew by the glasses.

“My dad Angelo and Uncle Ernie go out to coffee and lunch, and go to the casino together,” Julie said. “They call each other to see if they want to take a ride or go shopping. They genuinely have a good time together.”

To say that the Capobianco twins’ lives have been filled with extraordinary events would be an understatement.

Angelo played the accordion and Ernie played the guitar. Back in their teens, they appeared on a live WJAR radio show called “Celia Monroe’s Kidd’s Review,” and did so alongside the now late Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, who along with his sister did a singing and dance routine on the same show.

Cases of mistaken identity have been commonplace with the twins. When Angelo goes shopping at Shore’s Market on Atwood Avenue in Cranston, for example, he’s often stopped by Ernie’s former customers.

“One woman actually came up to my dad [Angelo] and hugged him and asked him asking how he had been,” Julie said. “Then dad told her he wasn’t Ernie but his twin brother. The woman laughed and asked why he didn’t stop her kissing him. He’d never stop a woman from kissing him!”

Julie recalled another such story: “My dad bought a coat at Filene’s, and my mother was with him. Later that day, my uncle and aunt went to the same store and bought the same coat and had the same salesperson. Uncle couldn’t why the sales lady wasn’t being courteous. Later in the day when [Angelo and Ernie] were talking to each other, they learned they both bought the same coat in the same store. Then the light went off – they had the same salesperson who must have thought some monkey business was going on, with Uncle Ernie going back with another woman.”

The fun, laughter, and marvelous memories seem like they never end for the Capobianco twins, who are loved by their families and many friends.

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