Faces of Outback Business            

“When I opened my new café, La Piazza, in the Springs Plaza in August 2002, I was thinking back to the “piazza” or square in my home town of Careri in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. We kids played games there – football, whip-and-top, a game involving the throwing of hazelnuts – while the grown-ups strolled or sat, drinking wine and chatting in the bars. The “piazza” was the centre of the town’s social life.

          Southern Italy was poor in those days. Like many of his fellow countrymen, my father, Tomaso, set off to Australia to seek his fortune. He left the family behind, promising to send for us when he could afford to support us. That was 1954 and I was one year old. My mother Maria waited for 11 years before he wrote, telling us to take a ship to Melbourne and a bus to Adelaide.

            I found Australia very strange at first, especially the food. At home, I had eaten healthy hunks of bread and cheese. Now I was faced with funny little triangles of soft, white bread that left me hungry. My first job in the Lyons teahouse in Adelaide was mixing jelly and custard for trifles. We Italians had another word for this desert-- zuppa inglese  or English soup.

          I came up to Alice Springs in 1994 and worked as a maitre d’hotel in a restaurant. But I wanted my own place – a “piazza” like in childhood. Right next door to my cafe, my Scottish partner, Dot, runs the Images hair salon. It’s as cosy as in the old days. So welcome to La Piazza, which promises you excellent food and good coffee. But just as important, here you will find the space to talk business or relax with your friends. Take your time. Linger. In Italy, socialising in the “piazza” is a way of life.”

 Giuseppe Musolino

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