Italian heritage honoured in Nelson pizza bar's famiglia setup
Story from Stuff
The efforts of their Italian ancestors to build a new life in New Zealand 130 years ago have stoked the fires of a Nelson family's new pizza business.
Salvito’s Pizza Bar, located in the former Brumbies bakery space on Hardy St, opens to the public on September 5.
Owner John Esposito is no stranger to pizza.
In fact, back in the home country, the family name is linked to the modern origins of a well-known pizza variety.
Legend has it that during on a trip to Naples with her husband King Umberto I in 1889, queen consort of Italy Margherita of Savoy requested local pizzamaker Raffaele Esposito and his wife to create an alternative to the French gourmet food she had grown weary of.
John Esposito, centre with his sons Vito, left and Salvi in their family’s new pizza bar Salvito's in Hardy St, Nelson.
The pizza she liked best was made with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, which just happened to represent the three colours of the Italian flag and Esposito duly named the dish after the consort.
On his return to New Zealand from Britain in 2005 John Esposito got involved with Club Italia and pushed for a wood fired pizza oven to re-invigorate the community.
Salvito's Pizza Bar opens on Hardy St on September 5.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Now chairman at the club, Esposito took on the responsibility of making pizzas - a role which he has had to this day.
The club’s Friday pizza nights have become a feature of the local calendar and they regularly make 250 pizzas each evening.
The emergence of Covid-19 has significantly affected Esposito’s Christchurch tourism business which depended on international and national visitors.
“I was faced with the sobering prospect of finding a new way to generate an income and had to take a long term view about what to do.
“I’ve always had this romantic notion of running a pizza bar and when I was in Rome a few years ago I got captivated with that idea.”
A 1915 photograph of members of the Nelson Italian community at the Church Steps. The photograph features on a wall in the family-owned new pizza bar Salvito's in Hardy St, Nelson.
Further inspiration for Salvito’s came from the publication of the book Pasta Prayer and Promise a historical review of Italian migration to Nelson by Karen Price and Karen Stade.
“It’s a fantastic story – what these people did during a pretty difficult time was amazing and it’s been forgotten largely.”
The Esposito family’s connection to the city began in 1890 when 26-year-old Pasquale Fiatarone set sail from Naples in search of a better life on the other side of the world.
In 1920, Aniello Esposito left the fishing village of Puolo to migrate to New Zealand and after five years’ fishing in Wellington, married Fiatarone’s youngest daughter Josephine in Nelson.
Over the years, the Esposito family became fully integrated into the local Italian community – one united by religion, language, family and food.
Across the interior walls of Salvito’s are photos and inscriptions detailing the story of the family’s life and times to the present day.
Most prominent is a 1915 photo taken at the Church Steps showing a patriotic gathering of these early Italian pioneers.
Pasquale is standing with his hat, front row and centre, among other forebears whose descendants still live in town.
“Francis Monopoli, who owns The Waka – that’s his grandfather holding the flag – he brought my grandfather out with him,” Esposito said.
Pasquale’s great-great-grandsons Salvi and Vito, after whom the pizza bar is named, are on board with their father in running the business, having grown up learning the art of pizza making at home and at Club Italia.
Salvito's Pizza Bar opens on Hardy St on September 5.
As well as spending time with his teenage kids, Espositio said Salvito’s also brought friends and family together helping design the layout and assisting with the project, from sourcing ingredients to local firm Bays Joinery providing the shop fit out.
He was especially grateful for the support and encouragement of his cousin Lisa Molnar in getting the concept across the line.
Esposito said he planned to open between Wednesday to Saturday from lunchtime to 7.30pm, selling pizza by the slice, or right up to an entire two-foot slab.
Salvito’s pizza styles and ingredients adhere to tradition although the names have been altered to honour those who had gone before.
For example – the flagship Neapolitan pizza with homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, dressed with fresh basil, grated Grana Padano and extra virgin olive oil – that’s a ‘Frank Monopoli Margherita’.
“Every one of those families has a cool story on how they got here and what they did - the history was at the heart of it, so I thought ‘why don’t I name the pizzas after them?’”
