Casa Nostra Pizza and Spaghetti House, Alice Springs

The story of Sebastiano (Sam) and Carmela begins with tears and ends with the laughter of success. They started out as poor immigrants but now own one of the most popular restaurants in Alice Springs, loved by locals and frequented by famous stars.   

        Sam and Carmela came to Australia as teenagers and neither of them wanted to leave their native Italy.

        “For me, it was a disaster,” said Sam. “At first I thought I could run back home until I realised how far away Australia was. I cried every night for three months.”

        What really upset Sam was that, at the age of 13, he was put into the first class at school along with six-year-olds because he could not speak English.

        “I had a moustache growing and they put me in the class with the little kids. We had some big fights.”

        Things got better when Sam left school and started work in a factory that made car seats.

        He and Carmela met in Melbourne. By that time, Sam was working in a shoe shop and he arranged for her to get a job there too. But Carmela’s uncle in Alice Springs, the legendary Papa Luigi, called them up to work in his restaurant. The first wedding held in the new Catholic Church in Alice was that of Carmela and Sam.

        Today, with their two children, they run Casa Nostra, the pizza and spaghetti house they founded 16 years ago. It’s reputation has spread by word of mouth and it attracts star actors and politicians when they visit Alice Springs.

        “You look familiar,” Carmela said to a diner one evening. “Aren’t you the man off those animal programmes on the tele?”

        “Yes, that’s me,” answered David Attenborough.

 The same night, the American actor Tom Selleck, in town to film “Quigley Down Under”, was also dining in the restaurant. Sam and Carmela have autographed wine bottles and photographs to prove it.

They are proud to serve the stars but love their loyal local clients and tourists as well. Whoever you are, welcome to Casa Nostra. The food is fresh and delicious and the hospitality overflows, just like back home in Italy.

Sebastiano and Carmela Giardina

Advertising Feature – Faces of Outback Business

BushMag thanks its backers, the businesspeople who believed in us