There's a story Alcide Giuliani likes to tell about his early days as a restaurateur. Subscribe now for unlimited access . Login or signup to continue reading It was Easter 1983 and diners were greeted by delicious Italian aromas as they piled in for the grand opening of his new Windang pizzeria, Pinocchio's.
The only hitch? Alcide's furniture order had landed on a public holiday and wouldn't be delivered until after the break. "We open a business with no tables, no chairs, and the people, I remember, we give them plates, we sat down on the floor in the line, everybody sat down with their plate and ate on the floor," he said. "Ah everybody laughed.
People said, 'don't worry, we happy your pizza's very good'." It's a funny anecdote that goes a long way to explaining why Alcide - who customers know as Giulio because "back in the day no one could say his name" - has thrived in the fickle, ever-evolving Illawarra food scene. For nearly 50 years, the born entertainer has done his best to keep things light (both the food and the mood) in his many eateries, and derives great joy from seeing others enjoy his warm Italian hospitality.
"In any business, if you're good with the people, I think 'geez, look at that'. I'm very happy. you're a very good person," he said.
But his adventures in food have never been a one-man show. Il Nido - the beloved Balgownie restaurant he established in 1999 - is celebrated its 25th anniversary this month, with the family members who helped turn the place into an institution still at the helm. There's Alcide's wife, Diana, who continues to work alongside him in the kitchen on a casual basis and their youngest son, Adrian, who has taken over management of the venue.
"It's now third generation with myself," Adrian said. "And I've also got my nieces and nephews starting to work, so it's coming into the fourth generation of the family business." Sadly, the woman they credit as the brains behind the mouth-watering dishes, Diana's self-taught, straight-shooting and widely revered Italian mother, Candida, died in 2014.
One of 12 children, Candida learned to cook for her large family while growing up in a village in northern Italy. After arriving in Australia, she worked behind the bar at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow before going into partnership with Alcide and Diana. "Nonna just had this rich way of cooking that was amazing," Adrian said.
"She's no longer with us, but she left a legacy that's continued on and on." Look no further than the continued popularity of her signature fluffy, cheesy gnocchi for proof of it. She kept her rustic, home-style dishes "very simple", and that's how they've stayed.
"We don't go too crazy with ideas because it's worked and it's still working today," Adrian said. A man with itchy feet The Giuliani family has been bringing food to the Illawarra for more than 45 five years. Alcide grew up in Rome, across from a small restaurant where he would clean and make pizza bases.
After migrating to Australia in 1969, he worked as a fitter and turner at the Port Kembla Steelworks before deciding it wasn't the life for him. He and his wife, Diana, raised three children while working alongside each other in multiple prominent restaurants, including Guilio's in Dapto, Giuliani's in Warrawong, Pinnochio's in Windang, Chianti in Bowral and Costa Azzurra in Fairy Meadow. "With my dad, he gets itchy feet so he just likes to move around, sell up and find the next one," Adrian said.
The couple was set to retire 25 years ago, but instead fell in love with a little 20-seat pizzeria in Balgownie called Fernando's. "Mum and dad took that on and we've grown the business into what it is now, a 90-seater restaurant and the food trucks that we started during COVID," Adrian said. Il Nido means Nest in English and Adrian believes his restless father set down roots in the little village, fondly known as 'Bally', because it felt like home.
"It's a beautiful little area and just the great support we get from our local, repeat customers," Adrian said. "They all become our family, from seeing the little kids grow up in our restaurants and now they're all big kids bringing in their kids." Adrian and his brother and sister also grew up in their parents' restaurant, working there as casuals from the age of five or six.
"Back in the day, we were there pretty much every night because my grandparents worked there, so we had no one to look after us after school," he said. "So we helped around the restaurant clearing tables and cleaning dishes." Adrian went on to become an air-conditioning technician, before his passion for food and hospitality pulled him back to the family business in 2005.
Throughout COVID and the cost-of-living crisis, he has overseen a period of growth for the restaurant. "We're busier than we've ever been, even during the pandemic," he said. "We've picked up so much new clientele through that time.
" Adrian describes COVID as a "scary but interesting period" for the food industry. Fortunately, Il Nido was already set up with delivery and takeaway when state-ordered lockdowns hit, and he quickly took on a business partner to set up two food trucks for wood-fire pizza pop-ups. "It still blows me away how busy we were during that period," he said.
"And we've come out the other side busy." Adrian puts their enduring appeal down to his dad's ability to make everyone feel like they belong, his insistence on using the best local produce, his mum overseeing the kitchen operation - and his late Nonna's cherished recipes. How to make pasta the Il Nido way Knead all together until dough is firm and well formed.
Roll into a log and cut into a few pieces. Run each piece through a pasta machine at least four times until thin and smooth (the thinner the setting, the better). Keep using the flour to coat the dough each time you press through machine.
Hang the pasta up to dry over a thin stick or something similar. Leave for 24 hours. Il Nido restaurant, 1/154 Balgownie Road, Balgownie.
For the past 15 years I've been toiling away behind the scenes on story ideas, web production, headline writing, home page editing and social media management. I'm passionate about passing the mic to Illawarra residents who find themselves with no power and no voice. For the past 15 years I've been toiling away behind the scenes on story ideas, web production, headline writing, home page editing and social media management.
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