Curiosities

The last artisans in Corso Manthonè

One of the restaurant rooms, called “SALETTA MASTRO VITTORIO ”, once housed a carpenter’s shop. Giovanni Marrone loves artisan workshops. In fact he is so interested in these figures from an anthropological point of view, and shows it through a lot of pictures portraying them and hung on the walls of the restaurant.

On many occasions Giovanni Marrone gathers the last artisans surviving in this little world: Otello the chair-mender, Balilla who repairs coffee machines, Renzo the jeweller, expert in gold melting, Palanza the tailor, Alduccio the smith, Francesco the knife-grinder, Gabriele the box picker. “Sometimes I ask them to have a dinner among friends. First of all I take a pleasure in it. They lived 50 metres far from each other, but they rarely talked to each other. At the table, while sipping a glass of wine, hate and rivalry fade away and the spirit of aggregation is restored. In doing so, I feel more integrated in taking part in what was my past life. Even the customer is likely to perceive this feeling of integration”. Giovanni describes it as “a message from the territory”. The local artisans, the last ones remaining in this little world, always remind me the origins of old Abruzzo people. The menu graphics itself, portraying characters of that time, is a proof of the fact that Taverna 58 is closely connected with the folk and the local traditions”.

Some of the many business activities in Corso Manthoné

The Fabric Shop Cancelli, Ferraresi Haberdasher’s, the Hatter Carinci, the Butcher’s Romano, famous for its tripe and other less noble cuts, the Award-winning Firm De Florentis, still experts in funeral rites, the Antique Scholar Veniero De Giorgi, researcher and publisher of particular things, the esteemed Restore Shop Fratelli Cascella, the wedding keepsake’s Shop Peruzzi, the polisher, the copper artisan, the mechanic and so on. Let’s try to remember other business activities…

LA CANTINA DI JOZZ It is the most important and historic restaurant in Via delle Caserme; in the 80s it was so popular that a lot of cars coming from every part of Italy were parked in front of it L’EX CANTINONE (now Taverna 58) We used to play cards and the passatella game, drink draught wine and eat tripe on Saturdays and vegetable soup on Thursdays.

Pagliaro del “Forno Mezzanotte” Every day customers queued in front of it. Don Nicola, “lu vlangiare” Once scale calibration was a job of great responsibility. Nevio e la Signora Maria A refined greengrocer where you could find fruit, vegetables and soaked salt cod.. The bookbinder’s Aquino The press of this historic shop bound heaps of official documents, books, graduation thesis and so on. Military Clothing Shop Di Sciullo Expert in uniform manufacturing, rank updating and so on. It supplied the Revenue Guard Corps barracks and the Engineer Corps.

The handyman repairer Luciano, a lively witty man, was a technical expert in repairing washing machines, stoves, irons, and all broken machines… The upholsterer The shop was always so full of chairs and armchairs, that Mario used to work in a small empty area close to the entrance. Antique shops and various clothing shops “Milia”, “Recherche” (furnished with very valuable articles), “La Bottega delle Streghe” and “La Matta”, where youngmen stood in queue in search of second-hand cheap clothes (that was in fashion).