In an unexpected revival of old-fashioned matchmaking traditions, the art of arranging marriages, rebranded today as cosmopolitan “matchmaking”, is back in the spotlight thanks to a Greek-American based in the United States. Nearly 70 years after actress Georgia Vasileiadou immortalised the meddling matchmaker in the 1957 Finos Films comedy “The Aunt from Chicago” (a classic of Greek cinema), Maria Avgitidou has revived the character in her own way. Her business, agapematch.com (named after the Greek word “agape”, meaning love), is a fully modern, organised matchmaking agency based in New York with an exclusive clientele across the United States. “Matchmaker Maria”, as she calls herself, is proud of its track record, and so too are the New York Times, who profiled her in a lengthy feature.