Francesco Aloe was born on 16 July 1914 in Sambiase, a town near Decollatura, Catanzaro in Italy. In 1935, at the age of 21, he was conscripted into the Abyssinian war from which he returned in 1937. He married Rosina Bonacci, born on 3 October 1916 in Decollatura, Catanzaro, region of Calabria, Italy, around 1939.

At the outbreak of World War II in June 1940, Francesco was again conscripted into the Italian army. His daughter Grazia was 6 months old. He was sent to Libya, where he was soon after captured by the British Army. After spending nearly 2 years as a POW in the Middle East, he was sent to Great Britain in 1942 where he was deployed to work on a farm. He was finally repatriated to Italy in 1946.

In 1949 Francesco was sponsored by his uncle Michelangelo Sesto to migrate to Australia. Michelangelo had been settled in Melbourne since 1930. When Francesco arrived in Melbourne on board the ship Surriento on 22 June 1949, he lived with Michelangelo in Peel Street, North Melbourne. He also lived with his cousin Giovanni Sesto and brother Gregory in Buncle Street, North Melbourne for a short period. Within a few years from his arrival in Australia, Francesco had sponsored five of his brothers to come to Australia.

Francesco initially worked on a vegetable farm at Hay in New South Wales. However when his wife Rosina and three children, Grazia [13], Domenico [5] and Filomena [4], arrived in Australia, Francesco joined the Victorian Railways and remained with them until his retirement around 1974.

Rosina and the children arrived in Australia on 3 April 1953 on board the ship Oceania. They initially lived with Francesco's cousin Salvatore Sesto in Richmond, before moving into their own house at 169 Melrose Street, North Melbourne. In 1966 the family moved into the house they built at 31 Glenys Avenue, Airport West and lived there until their deaths.

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