Vittoria Tonin, Mamma Vittoria, was born in Cairo in 1940 to Italian parents. At the age of 14, she immigrated to Australia with her dad, settling in Melbourne ahead of her mum, sisters and grandmother.
Mamma Vittoria contributes her love of cooking and meeting people to her grandmother, Pascqualina, her mother’s mother, who taught her to cook traditional Italian food. Coming to Australia in her mid 70’s, Pascqualina lovingly did all the shopping and cooking for her family, along the way passing on many family secrets that are still used in the restaurant today.
Mamma Vittoria’s Restaurant has been a Smith Street icon for nearly 25 years and was actually built by Vittoria’s husband Fidelio, or Elio for short. Being a bricklayer, like so many Italian immigrants of the day, Elio with the help of his friends, built not only a restaurant, but what also became a Fitzroy institution.
As many restaurants come and go in this quickly changing world, it’s comforting to know that Mamma Vittoria’s is likely to be around for many, many years to come, thanks to the next generation of Tonin’s following the Mamma Vittoria tradition.
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