When the new Criniti’s Italian Restaurant opens in Keira Street in the second week of July it won’t be the first time the Criniti family has had a connection with Wollongong.
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Patriarch Cosimo Criniti lived in the city for almost a year shortly after he migrated to Australia from Italy as a 16 year old in the 1960s.
As the eighth Criniti’s Restaurant in Australia has been fitted out and staff employed and trained in recent weeks Mr Criniti and his wife Rosa Criniti (Mamma Rosa) have been celebrating 50 years of marriage.
Both migrated to Australia from Italy but did not meet until after Mr Criniti had spent time in Wollongong living with a local family.
“I lived there for nine months,” he said.
“The company I was working for sent us to do some marble and pebblecrete. It was 1966.”
Mr Criniti worked on buildings at a teachers college where the University of Wollongong is today.
Pappa Criniti went on to start his own concreting company and built pools until his children decided they wanted to move into the restaurant business.
That was a chance for Mamma Rosa to showcase the traditional Italian food she grew up with and learned how to cook from her own mother.
Mrs Criniti cooked those meals for her family as her own children grew up. She used the freshest produce grown by Mr Criniti in the backyard.
The Criniti Restaurant business evolved by retaining many of the traditional family recipes and methods of cooking, sourcing the best fresh ingredients.
When the first restaurant opened in Parramatta in 2003 Mr Criniti used his experience growing vegetables to get up early each morning to shop at the markets for more and more produce as the chain of Italian restaurants grew.
One thing the golden anniversary couple love about the Criniti Group opening a new eatery in Wollongong is that it is a multicultural city whith many families who still grow vegetables in the backyard and cook meals the traditional way.
Mamma Rosa said the new 170 seat restaurant facing Keira Street will retain that family feel where people gather together and socialise while sharing good food. “Food does bring family together and to be together as a family is the most special thing we can ever have in our lives”.
Read more: What Criniti’s is bringing to Wollongong
Mamma Rosa said one thing she misses from her childhood is the sound of chooks in the backyard. She said it was good to know there are families in Wollongong who still grow their own vegetables and have a chook pen.
The couple have been visiting Wollongong since the fit-out on the new restaurant began and love the city’s sense of community.
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Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
