ITALIAN FOOD

Soho s restaurants came increasingly under Italian ownership. They produced an Italian-style French cuisine that was targeted at a British pallet.

Enzo Apicelli

Enzo Apicelli (1922-2018) was a Neapolitan designer who had moved to London in 1954. In 1962 he designed part of La Trattoria Terrazza for Mario Cassandro and Franco Lagattolla, eschewing the raffia-clad Chianti bottles, tourist board posters, and plastic grapes that clung to trellises. Five years later he persuaded Peter Boizot not to furnish the Coptic Street PizzaExpress in a functional style of tiles and white walls. It was the first restaurant to have spotlights, the designer had noticed them being used to light shops window displays. Over 80 of the 150 restaurants that he designed were for the chain. He co-owned the Meridiana in Chelsea and later the Condotti in Mayfair. His design commissions often called him away from the day-today management. As a result, he commissioned a waxwork of himself which he had sit close to the door of the Meridiana reading a newspaper that was changed daily.

Location: The Meridiana 169 Fulham Road, SW3 6SP (red, blue)

Bertorelli's

The Bertorelli family came from Bergazzi, a mountain village in near Bardi in Emilia Romagna. The brothers Celeste and Lodovico Bertorelli arrived in Britain in 1913. Their initial employment was with the Harris sausage company. Their sibs Davide and Giuseppe, who had gone to the United States, joined them. The brothers started out running English-style cafes in Shoreditch and at Waterloo Bridge. In 1913 they opened one in Charlotte Street that was intended to provide chauffeurs with food. The clientele became interested in what the sibs were cooking for their own meals; the change from English cafes to Italian restaurants followed on from this. By the 1960s there were six Bertorelli-run restaurants.

Location: 19 Charlotte Street, W1T 1RL (orange, red)

44a Floral Street, WC2E 9DA (purple, orange)

Website: wwwbertorelliristorante.co.uk

Antonio Carluccio

Antonio Carluccio was a wine merchant who took over the management of the Neal Street Restaurant from his then brother-in-law. In 1991 he established Carluccio s, a food shop business. Eight years later the first Carluccio s Caff opened in Market Place.

Location: 8 Market Place, W1W 8AG. Now closed. (purple, brown)

Website: www.carluccios.com

Anna del Conte

Anna del Conte played an important role in popularising Italian food in Britain.

Dell Ugo

Dell Ugo was founded in 1929.

Website: https://dellugo.co.uk

Famiglia Portico

Il Portico is a regional Italian restaurant. It was opened by Pino Chiavarini. The establishment went on to be run by his grandchildren.

Location: 277 Kensington High Street, W8 6NA

Website: www.famigliaportico.co.uk

La Famiglia

Alavro Maccioni s decision to open his Tuscan-style trattoria in Chelsea in 1966 reflected the district s growing fashionableness. The layout and decoration was overseen by Enrico Apicella. Two years later he opened the Club dell Aretusa nightclub. In 1975 Maccioni opened La Famiglia.

Website: https://lafamiglia.co.uk

Little Italy

In 1995 Polledri family, the owners of Bar Italia, opened the Little Italy restaurant at No. 21 Frith Street.

Location: 21 Frith Street, W1D 4RN (pink, red)

Website: www.littleitalysoho.co.uk

Olive Oil

Until the 1970s olive oil was still principally regarded in Britain as being a medicament. It was something that, you were more likely to buy from a chemist than from a Soho delicatessen.

E. Pellicci

E. Pellicci was founded in the early 20^thC by Priamo Pellicci and his wife Elide. They came from Roggio, a village near Lucca. The caf has an Art Deco marquetry panelled interior and a custard-coloured Vitriolite fa ade. These were fitted in 1946. The Pelliccis son Nevio created a fusion cuisine that included dishes such as corned beef on ciabatta.

In 2005 English Heritage granted E. Pellici Grade II listing status.

Location: 332 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AG (blue, yellow)

Website: https://epellicci.co.uk

PizzaExpress Dean Street

Peter Boz Boizot (1929-2018) ate his first pizza in 1948, while working as a tutor in Italy. Pizzas were available in London but there was little demand for them as they were regarded as being peasant food by Italians, the restauranteurs could secure high profit margins from other dishes, and there were no purpose-built pizza ovens in London. The movie director Mario Zampi had opened Pizza Express at the southern end of Wardour Street, however, it had not proven to be a success. Boizot decided to open his own pizzeria. While in Rome on business, he bought a pizza oven for 600. He then paid 100 for PizzaExpress and assumed its debts of 14,000.

Customers were able to see their pizzas being prepared. He always kept the business focused on pizzas and offered a range of only ten. Individuality was furnished by the individual restaurants d cor; art works were commissioned from artists such as Peter Blake and Eduardo Paolozzi (Fulham). One of the business s hallmarks was its use of live music, primarily jazz, for which the proprietor had a passion, in its showcase outlets.

As a businessman, Boz had a number of eccentricities. When visiting PizzaExpress branch he always carried a pair of scissors so that he could trim the stalks of flowers if he felt they needed it. It was not until 2007 that one opened in much loved hometown of Peterborough. This was because the city had a substantial Italian population. He had been a vegetarian since the age of five but was prepared to sample meat if was to be served in one of his restaurants. He referred to the business as being a necklace of individual gems and not a chain .

Location: 10 Dean Street, W1D 3RW (red, turquoise)

11-13 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LY. Pizza on the Park closed as a jazz venue in 2010. (blue, turquoise)

See Also: MUSIC VENUES

Website: www.pizzaexpresslive.com/venues/soho-jazz-club www.pizzaexpress.com/dean-street

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese does not exist in Italy. It is an adaptation of tagliatelle Bolognese.

See Also: SOUTH ASIAN FOOD

Ticinese Cafes

See Also: CAFES Coffee Bars

Carlo Gatti

In 1847 Carlo Gatti, a Swiss Italian, arrived in London. He set up a stall that sold waffles. Two years later he and Battista Bolla opened a caf in Holborn. From there, he popularised ice cream. Initially, he cut his ice from the Regent s Canal. He developed a warehouse next to the waterway. There, in two large wells, he stored ice that he started importing from Norway in about 1860. He had a fleet of horse-drawn delivery carts. Gatti opened London s first Ticinese restaurant in Hungerford Market. (Mr Gatti also became active as a music hall proprietor.¹)

Location: 2 & 12-13 New Wharf Road, N1 9RT (purple, orange)

See Also: ICE CREAM; REFRIGERATION

¹. The Gatti family were to own The Adelphi and The Vaudeville theatres. Gatti s-In-The-Arches was to become The Players Theatre.

Union Ticinese

The Unione Ticinese was set up as a benevolent society for waiters who worked in Ticinese restaurants. The organisation was founded in 1874 by Stefano Gatti, a nephew of Carlo Gatti.

Website: https://ulondon.org

Valchera s

Valchera s was London s last Ticinese restaurant. It closed in 1987.

Location: McDonalds, 30 The Quadrant, Richmond, TW9 1DN

Veglio & Co.

In 1900 there were nine Ticinese restaurants operating along Oxford Street.

During the construction of Elizabeth Line the rebuilding of Tottenham Court Road Underground Station revealed a sign on No. 17 Oxford Street several floors above street level that read Veglio & Co. s Cafe, Established 1854 . This would have been visible to people travelling westwards along New Oxford Street.

Location: 17 Oxford Street, W1D 2DN (purple, orange)

Trattoria

La Trattoria Terrazza in Romilly Street specialised in home cooked-style Italian food. It was opened in 1959 by Mario Cassandro (1920-2011), a Neapolitan, ran the front-of-house and Franco Lagattolla (d.1980), an Anglo-Italian who had been born in London, the staff and the kitchens. The chefs and waiters who worked there went on to open numerous Italian restaurants across London. Many of these were designed by Enzo Apicella, who had created La Trattoria Terrazza s interior.

Location: 19 Romilly Street, W1D 5AE (pink, turquoise)

David Backhouse 2024