Italian fans return McCartney's 1970 diary

Two Italian sisters have returned a diary in which Paul McCartney wrote about the Beatles’ split in 1970, the star’s agent said today.

The diary had been stolen from McCartney’s London home in the 1980s, said spokesman Geoff Baker. It was returned on Monday in Rome, where the ex-Beatle played two concerts over the weekend.

Baker confirmed the diary was authentic.

“Naughty girls,” one of the two sisters, Paola De Fazi, quoted Sir Paul as saying after recovering the diary.

The diary has a red cover and white, lined pages. It contains drawings and personal notes, including scheduled meetings with the press, anniversaries and appointments with other members of the Beatles and with the group’s producer.

In one page, dated March 12, 1970, Sir Paul drew two hearts and wrote “Happy Anniversary,” a note dedicated to his late wife Linda. In another one, dated April 10, he wrote: “Paul leaves Beatles.”

The two sisters, now in their mid-30s, said they stole the diary during a trip to London in 1980, when they went to see McCartney’s house.

“There was some restructuring work going on, and the gate was open,” Francesca De Fazi recalled. “We mustered up our courage and went inside.

“There was a lot of stuff there: film reels, clips. We took the diary, a pair of boots and some music sheets and then ran away,” she said.

When the ex-Beatle went to Rome, the sisters decided to give the diary back.

They went to McCartney’s hotel and asked his bodyguards to meet him. Then they gave the diary to an assistant and waited for about an hour, until he finally came out, they said.

“We have always loved the Beatles,” said Paola De Fazi. ”Seeing Paul three centimetres away and talking to him was a dream.”

McCartney performed inside the Coliseum on Saturday at a benefit concert for a few hundred fans.

The next night, he drew hundreds of thousands of fans for a concert just outside the Coliseum. The De Fazi sisters were in the crowd.