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WORCESTER — No matter whether in Italy or the United States, the Travaglio relatives has always been by every single other’s aspect, most a short while ago when opening an Italian pizzeria in Worcester.
Pepe’s Italian Cafe, which opened in 2010 on Franklin Street and moved to 181 Shrewsbury St. last thirty day period, is owned by four family members customers of the Travaglio family — Thomsina Travaglio, John Travaglio, Teresa Travaglio and Luigi Romeo.
Thomsina, 72, mom of John and Teresa, immigrated to the U.S. with her father from Caianello, Italy, when she was 13, in 1961, when her father remarried to an American girl.
John and Teresa are initially-technology Individuals, born in Worcester. Romeo, Teresa’s partner, is an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States when he was 8, in 1972.
Thomsina mentioned she failed to like the existence here when 1st arrived to the country she could not realize the language and lifestyle.
It took her decades to start off getting utilised to the lifestyle. She met an Italian husband, who was originally from Vieste, Italy, and they married when she was 24.
“There are more work prospects in this article, make life a lot more comfy in this article, and Italy is tough to get careers but it is beautiful,” Thomsina stated.
Prior to starting up the restaurant small business, Thomsina had not worked since she was married. Her partner, who died in 2015, ran his own conveyor belt organization in Sterling for 25 a long time, but it shut when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Thomsina joked that her spouse created her to go to function in her 60s. She was hesitant to do so at first. She invested a ton of time in the kitchen when the cafe initial opened in 2010. She wanted to make certain the chef was producing the suitable Italian recipes.
Satisfy father and son’s dream
The cafe notion was fashioned when John had a system to open up a bar, an idea rejected by his father, expressing that it couldn’t be purely a bar and that it wanted to provide food stuff.
His father also had a dream to open up up an Italian pizza restaurant. And though he wasn’t an professional prepare dinner, he relished bringing his homeland flavor to the U.S.
“We worked tough on acquiring recipe that’s actually shut to Italian,” Thomsina stated. “You never have the identical elements as you do in Italy.”
The primary blueprint of the restaurant was to make authentic Italian pizza as Thomsina’s partner wished, but it later on turned out to be the infusion of Italian and American.
The initial pizza recipe was from a close buddy of the family in Italy.
“They gave us the recipe of how to combine the sauce and even the dough, and (we) lastly discovered (our way to make) it near to what we intended to make,” she reported.
Running a cafe as a initially-generation American
Coming from an Italian qualifications the place they are several hardworking men and women collaborating with other folks, anyone worked alongside one another, said Teresa Travaglio, daughter of Thomsina and a mom of five.
Although as a initial-era American, Teresa said she was raised as an Italian and experienced used a lot of time in Italy with her dad and mom when growing up.
For her, it is a tricky dilemma to opt for just one region about the other.
“My mother constantly states it’s generally tough to know two international locations as you’d in no way know exactly where you want to be,” Teresa mentioned. “The lifetime there is incredibly laid again, so I like that, but I miss the comfort in The us like Stop & Shop and CVS being open 24 hours a working day.”
Teresa worked at a salon future doorway to the restaurant’s place although John worked at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston in advance of commencing the enterprise.
Now, the family members manages the foods orders, greets the shopper and specials with some paper operate. Many of their spouse and children associates are encouraging out with the enterprise, such as Teresa’s little little ones at times assisting fold the pizza containers. They also have 12 workers, which includes chefs and servers.
“My father was normally grateful for the opportunity he had in this article in the U.S. that would make us enjoy this state as considerably as Italy as effectively,” Teresa explained.
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