Giorgio Angelè

Giorgio Angelè was born in Matino (LE), in 1933 but grew up in Rome where his uncle Giorgio had a café and cake shop in via Santa Chiara.

From a young age Giorgio helped out in his uncle's shop, where he learned the art of pastry making. In 1956 Giorgio was chosen to be part of a team of 10 cooks and 2 pastry chefs to serve the Italian Olympic team during the Melbourne Olympic Games. In October 1956, he left the port of Genoa on board the Flaminia and arrived in Melbourne, Australia, in November of the same year.

After the games, Giorgio was offered a job in Sydney so he stayed in Australia. Within a year he was back in Melbourne, where he opened a small cake shop in Kew, which he called Olympic Cakes. The following year, Giorgio decided to open a bigger Olympic Cakes shop in Richmond. In the meantime he met his future wife, Gigliola, whom he married in 1961 and with whom he had five children.

Melbourne's Italian community really loved Giorgio's pastry shop and business flourished, until 1969, when the shop was wiped out by a fire. Giorgio, who had always dreamed of returning to Rome, decided it was time to do so. He returned with his family to Rome, where he bought a flat and lived for a year. With no contacts in Rome, he was unable to settle down and, with a large family to support, he decided to return to Melbourne, where he was already well known and still had business contacts. His plan was to produce an authentic Italian panettone in Australia.

The challenges were numerous, but the biggest obstacle of all was the lack of skilled pastry chefs. The fact that Christmas in Australia is in summer contributed to the difficulty of producing panettone. Giorgio worked night and day and, as time went by, his dream came true.

In 1972, he founded Ital Biscuits, which continues to be the biggest manufacturer of Italian biscuits, cakes and panettone in Australia to this day. In 1991, Giorgio's colleague Piero Brunetti approached Giorgio about buying the small “Brunetti” café and cake shop in Carlton. Giorgio saw the proposal as an opportunity for his family and bought the shop in November 1991. Initially under the management of one of his children, later joined by others, the shop grew to become a popular café and cake shop that is famous all over Melbourne today.

With five shops in Melbourne and one in Singapore, Brunetti and Ital Biscuits continue to flourish under the management of Giorgio's children. Giorgio is now 88 years old and a great-grandfather, and he still loves to create his recipes at Brunetti's. When he thinks of his beloved Rome, tears well up in his eyes.

Story compiled in collaboration with the CO.AS.IT of Melbourne, Australia.