U.S. Army Garrison Italy’s resource management office is not quite the same without Fabrizio Nardello, who spent nearly four decades working there. Nardello recently retired after 42 years. A Vicenza native, Nardello recalled that at age 21 he had just returned from a one-month stint in England, where he went to improve his English. In July 1978, he walked around the corner to Caserma Ederle, looking for work. Within weeks he started at the budget office.

“When I was first hired, most people were still using manual typewriters, ledgers, calculators and carbon papers. We were answering telephones, the ones with actual bells inside,” Nardello said. “Years later, desktop workstations became the newest rage. Technology enthusiasts like myself wondered how personal computers might revolutionize the workplace.”