Antonio Mastrostefano (born 1923) was an Italian fisherman from the island of Stromboli. He served in the Royal Italian Army during World War II and was imprisoned in South Africa after being captured by the Allies during Operation Husky in 1943; he was later sent to an internment camp in Italy after the war's end. While interned, he met the Lithuanian refugee Karin Bjornsen, with whom he fell in love. He persuaded her to marry him in the spring of 1948 after promising her a better life on his home island, only for her to find the barren, desolate, and conservative island hellish and unbearable. Mastrostefano worked hard as a fisherman to provide for her, but their marriage was uneasy due to Bjornsen's sophisticated tastes and Mastrostefano's inadequate finances. Ultimately, Bjornsen decided to run away with the help of the lighthouse keeper Gianpiero Ditta, leaving Mastrostefano alone on the island.
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