Nicola had two Uncles living in Australia when he arrived. He lived in Warrawong with his Uncle Pietro who arrived in Australia Jan 27, 1957 aboard the ship `Aurelia`. He was looking for work and his Uncle suggested M & M (Metal Manufacturers) but Nicola felt that wasn’t for him. He did odd jobs for a few years.
After three months in Australia Nicola met Tina Di Blasi. Six months later they were engaged and six months after the engagement they were married.
As a young boy he dreamt of opening his own pizza place and in 1984 the opportunity presented itself. He purchased an existing coffee lounge in Oak Flats and began converting it into a pizzeria called La Riviera Pizza, which opened March 21st at 55 Central Avenue. He knew nothing about making pizza dough and employed his mother in-law, Maria Di Blasi. Maria had extensive experience working in pizza restaurants throughout the Illawarra region.
La Riviera Pizza opened 7 days a week doing both lunch and dinner. With a staff of 4 it had a seating capacity of up to 40 people. They did approximately 150 - 200 pizzas per week as well as a trattoria style kitchen menu. The menu consisted of typical Italian pasta dishes such as lasagna, gnocchi and meat dishes such as scaloppine. According to Nicola, the Italian dishes were more popular than the pizzas. La Riviera Pizza also did takeaway.
In 1995 Nicola opened a second business, this time in Wollongong. He purchased `Il Mondo del Cafe` in Corrimal Street, Wollongong, an upmarket coffee shop. In 1997 Nicola sold the pizzeria and focused on the coffee shop.
He worked hard to build the business up when in 1998, after four years, he sold the coffee shop as he was dealing with illness and needed to recover. He took four months off from work. He soon started up again and ran the restaurant in the Spanish Club at Warrawong. The cuisine was a fusion of Spanish and Italian. 12 months later he moved on.
In 2000 he was running the Tuscany Cafe in Crown Street, Wollongong. He did another 12 months at Tuscany while simultaneously running the Fontana Caffelatte Restaurant upstairs (that he began running six months after commencing at the Tuscany Cafe). He left after 12 months before managing Urban Espresso (cafe) in the mall for another 12 months.
In 2001 Nicola purchased a restaurant in Cowper Street, Warrawong. It was an existing trattoria that had been there for several years. Nicola was asked if he would consider taking it over and he opened under the name Nickelangelo Trattoria. Nickelangelo`s was a trattoria style restaurant with a seating capacity of up to 110 people. They also offered wood fired pizza. The pizza oven was newly installed by Nicola.
The restaurant was open 7 days per week. Initially it opened everyday for both lunch and dinner, but Nicola reduced the hours to lunch only two days per week being Thursday and Friday with dinner being Wed - Sun. The restaurant was busy with functions especially from the Italian community and they also did takeaway. It was not rare for Nicola to knock back up to 100 people on a Saturday night.
Approx 12 months after opening the restaurant Nicola began to roast coffee. With connections from working at `Il Mondo del Cafe`, he began with a 3 kilo coffee roasting machine that was situated at the front of the restaurant. He was roasting wholesale under contract for a company in Sydney. After approximately 8 months with the 3 kilo roaster he then purchased a 30 kilo roasting machine and moved the coffee roasting to the back of the restaurant. Nicola was now producing more coffee for more clients and for three years he pumped out a whopping one and a half tons of roasted coffee per week! After about 5 years he purchased a 60 kilo roaster from Turkey. The roaster was put in storage for 12 months before he found a premises /warehouse in Unanderra to house the 60 kilo roaster. Nicola was roasting the coffee along with his two sons.
Around 2007 Nicola launched an `Italian Night` at the restaurant. The restaurant was at capacity and turned around 180 people. It was intended to be the beginning of `la grammatica italiana`. The hope was to have many nights like this where people would dine, gather together and speak Italian, encouraging people to connect with their heritage, speaking more of the mother language or even learning the language itself. Members of the Italian community became involved. It ran for a couple of years only before finishing all together. It was really disappointing for Nicola.
The restaurant was busy and trading constantly. It had many regular local customers. They worked solid for nearly ten years and in 2010 Nickelangelo Trattoria was sold. Maria Di Blasi worked with Nicola since 1984 when he opened his first pizzeria in Oak Flats until he finished from the restaurant in Warrawong. Maria Di Blasi passed away 2022, January 15. She was 80 years old.
Nicola was focusing heavily on his coffee roasting business at Unanderra. He was making third party coffee blends now turning out 4 tons per week and he was working six days per week, 12 hours per day working with the 60 kilo roaster.
By this stage both his sons were working full time with him. For 25 years Nicola had been roasting coffee with his children being part of the business. The business has now come full circle, with Nicola helping his sons. The eldest son has a cafe in Unanderra and is involved with distribution. The youngest son owns the roasting business. So for Nicola his coffee project is finished with his sons running the show. Nicola helps and still works in the business, supporting the sons and doing most of the roasting.
He spends much time in his beloved garden and enjoys the company of his eight grandchildren.
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