Age difference

AnnaramL.....nothing ventured nothing gained. Go for it and have some fun. Just be on your guard and if money is mentioned run for the hills.?

MissAdventure
It's decades since I heard that saying. ???

My mum used to say it, along with
"They don't look at the mantlepiece when they're poking the fire".
She was a font of wisdom, that woman!

Exactly MissA
Another belly laugh from you.

If he is has more in mind!! than sharing a table for coffee let him do the asking. Make sure if he invites you out that the first or even second meeting is where others are present and regardless of age whether you could see yourself if the subject is presented wanting to be more than friends.
You would not be the first to have a younger than oneself admirer as it is often said 'age is but a number'.
Good luck.

Sorry if I’m being cynical here, but most of you who have posted that you have younger male partners ,say that you have been together happily for many years . I think that an age gap is not so significant if both parties are younger when they meet and have grown up together into retirement age. I’m only just 70 and I can’t see myself starting a relationship with a man of 55, even though I enjoy socialising with men of all ages.

Atqui, I know what you are saying. I do not intend to marry again after 54 years of happiness with a Trinidadian Indian man. However I would like the occasional date with a good looking man with lovely brown eyes... I'm a sucker for brown eyes.
It hasn't happened yet and maybe nothing more will come of it than coffee after church in the church hall. Even that is nice. Thank you to those who wish me well.

Fingers crossed he asks you go for it?

Enjoy his company and see how the friendship progresses. I have friends, male and female, of all ages and am far more interested in the interests we share than in their birth dates.
As a previous poster suggested, introduce him to other people at the church so that he can feel part of the community. There are probably church social events and fund raisers to go to, assuming that he's genuine and settled locally, he should welcome the opportunity to make more friends.
For you or some other lucky lady he does sound quite a catch, straight from the pages of a romantic novel!

I would err on the side of caution, so a thorough background check is in order if things start to move forward.

Seniors and older (single) women in particular are a prime target for con artists. Enjoy his company but keep your purse shut and your eyes wide open.

I think it was a bit of an unwitting back-handed compliment, saying that the OP would be ok with the Italian gentleman as Italians are known for being good to their mothers.
Just a gentle dig, MawBroon

Atqui
You might if he was fit, wealthy, wore beautiful clothes and made you feel perfectly special, like a ...a 'young' woman.

Oops!
Just thinking the appeal of the older woman perhaps...?

You maybe looked the most approachable. If he asks you out then it is your choice whether you want to go or not. Or you could say something like ‘ oh that would be nice, I have been wanting to go to.......... for ages’. Then you kind of have some control in the situation.

Am a bit surprised that most people have automatically put him into one of two boxes. Either a gold digger or someone looking for a relationship of some kind. Maybe he just wants to make friends.

Firstly a friendship can’t harm you and may actually bring joy into your life. Maybe arrange meetings in public venues away from your home if concerned. I’m sure you’re a smart lady who will be aware and able to recognise anything untoward that would extend further into involving your finances. My husband’s widowed mother married someone twenty years younger than herself - they actually enjoyed a very happy life together.

ooh a toy boy. lol. maybe he's looking for new friends .i would take a friend with you for the first meeting. and I would find out a little more about him. ask one of church members... I bet he's married ..

Yes Maw there is always that.
I can't 'see a widower, even a 'good looking Italian' one, going to church alone to meet women. He may, of course, be religious but to then go into the church hall for coffee with parishioners who I guess would be predominantly female...

My three daughters go to church every week and my son works with the youth group in church, they have all met some lovely people through it, my son married a girl he met at a Christian holiday away and one of my daughters is going out with a boy from church but they have also made a lot of friends there.
It was 15 years between my husband and I

I would say if he asks you out go for it, you never know, he might just want friendship, but he might want more, as you get to know him you will suss him out,
I know Italian men are good to their mothers, but also expect the women to do all household stuff
A friend of my daughters had a lovely Italian boyfriend but when she moved to Italy to be with him, she was expected to be up at the crack of dawn getting on with housework, he did nothing, so that didnt last long,
Of course it doesnt have to apply to all Italians [hopefully]

Gabriella I wish! I guess it boils down to self esteem of which I’m in short supply re body image.

But Annaraml. I wish you well ( sincerely)

'Keep your hand on your ha'penny.'

I was just watching an episode of Rising Damp and Leonard Rossiter said that phrase to Bekinsale

Oh I love rising damp!
"Ooh miss Jones!"

Frances de le Tour and Leonard Rossiter are wonderful, and Beckinsale and Don Warrington.

I remember not really liking it when it was on in the 70s or 80s, perhaps because it was on Sunday evenings and horrible thinking about Mondays.

Now they are showing it on ITV3 and I think its wonderful. Have been binge watching it on the ITV player app.

The same for me.
Sunday evenings were when we had a bath, our ears cleaned out, and our toenails cut so short we limped for the next week.
Plus, the worst of it - school the next day! Yuk!