that's amore

Reality stars Alex Migliorini & Manuel Pirelli celebrate one year of their extremely gorgeous love

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Alex Migliorini and Manuel Pirelli
Alex Migliorini (left), Manuel Pirelli (right). Credit: Instagram (@alexmiglioreal, @manuel.pirelli)

That’s amore!

Italian reality stars Alex Migliorini & Manuel Pirelli are serving couple’s goals as they celebrate the one-year anniversary of their whirlwind romance.

With their matching His & His six-packs and fondness for body ink, these Mediterranean boys are a match made in gay heaven.

On Wednesday, the lovebirds expressed their admiration for each other with sweet anniversary messages on social media.

“A year of you, of me, of us! A year of real life. I never thought I would feel happy and complete, but you came along and turned everything upside down!” Manuel captioned a photo of the couple taking a mirror selfie.  

“I dedicate everything to you my love, everything about me! Forever and completely yours, I love you.”

Not to be outdone, Alex professed his feelings in an equally-touching post.

“ A year of us,” Alex captioned a shot laying next to his man. “ No tear-jerking note. I just want to say thank you for turning my life upside down, thank you for making me a better person and above all thank you because every day you make me feel so special and make me feel like a prince. Love you to death.”

The couple’s road to romance took some unlikely turns before they wound up in each other’s arms.

Both Alex and Manuel initially went on reality shows looking for love, but they didn’t find each other on their respective programs.

Alex, 29, appeared on the Italian Bachelor-esque series Uomini e Donne in 2017 and enjoyed a short-lived affair with one of the show’s other gay contestants. However, the romance fizzled shortly after the series went off the air.

In 2018, he started a relationship with an architect (who he didn’t identify by name) that slowly progressed and, since Italy doesn’t allow same-sex marriage, the pair had a civil union ceremony in 2020.

But it wasn’t meant to be. In January 2023, Alex disclosed the couple had decided to go their separate ways.

While Manuel, 27, took part on the first season Love Island Italy in 2021 and unsuccessfully attempted to find the woman of his dreams.

Although it wasn’t known at the time, Manuel, who had not publicly disclosed his sexuality, began dating Alex in January 2023.

Six months later, the couple decided they were ready to take the next step.

In July 2023, the handsome duo made their relationship Instagram official and Manuel simultaneously came out as gay.

In the photo, the duo gaze into each other’s eyes while overlooking a Greek beach as Manuel caresses Alex’s face.

After the revelation, some Love Island fans questioned why he went on the show under false pretenses. Although he didn’t have to explain himself, Manuel shared a vulnerable message about his coming out journey.

“There are days when even I am amazed because I would never have imagined until recently that I could be so happy, finally managing to be myself. I don’t want to justify myself but at the same time I want to make people understand that much more often than you might imagine, it can be complicated for a person to come to terms with their sexuality and sexual orientation,” he wrote in an Instagram Story, according to the Italian outlet Leggo.

“Today I can say that inside me I always knew I was gay, but truly realizing it and above all admitting it to myself was very complicated and it was a process that took me years in which the Manuel that everyone saw was a boy straight like many, It’s not easy to explain that feeling of feeling wrong, out of place, that constant inability to accept oneself mixed with the fear of disappointing others.”

He added: “I spent a long period alone, I isolated myself from everything and everyone because I needed to find myself, to understand myself, to find a mental balance that would allow me to make peace with myself and with the world. I was alone and I certainly didn’t plan on falling in love.”

Manuel then divulged how meeting Alex changed everything.

“At a certain point, completely suddenly I understood that I deserved to be happy too and it’s really true that true happiness comes when you least expect it. When I met Alex I had already understood and realized who I really was and falling in love with him was the most natural thing in the world,” he wrote. “He stole my heart and mind from day one, and to you I say… but without you, never without us.”

In the words of Mama Ru: “If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”

Congrats to the happy couple & to living your best authentic lives!

Celebrate Manuel and Alex’s one-year anniversary by taking a deep dive into more of their sizzling snaps below:

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