They flew in from Rome and arrived at OR Tambo International Airport just after 4.30pm. Calitz’s family held up a poster which read: “Welcome home. Mom and Bruno”.
Calitz’s daughter Samantha de Jesus, who was waiting with a large media contingent for the couple to emerge, said she was both nervous and excited.
The family would have met the couple privately first, but decided against it.
“If it wasn’t for the public we wouldn’t have been able to get them here.”
Calitz and Pelizzari were kidnapped on a yacht off the south-eastern coast of Africa by Somali pirates in October 2010. They were held hostage for about 20 months until their release on Thursday.
The South African government reportedly helped secure their freedom in a joint effort with Italy and Somalia. Details of the terms of their release are not yet known.