Aldo de Vittoris Senior, founder of the Ital Restaurant, was born in March 1940 in Sora province of Lazio, Italy.

In his late teens, he qualified as a fornaio e pasticciere professionale — a master baker-confectioner — and on 28 February 1961, just before his 21st birthday, came to Bradford to join his sister Lora who was already living here, hoping to find work in his chosen trade.

At first, however, there were disappointments. Things did not go according to plan and, reluctantly, he had to take work in an iron foundry! But, fortunately, that did not last for long. Soon his talents were being recognised in the catering industry, which is where he knew he belonged; and towards the end of the 1960s, Aldo was offered the opportunity of a lifetime in that industry.

The offer was of a partnership in a small social club catering for Italian and other foreign students, and Aldo was quick to seize it.

He named his bar the Gatto Bianco — the White Cat. By 1969 the Gatto Bianco was a fully-licenced night club and was often frequented by the likes of Peter Stringfellow and Jimmy Saville who, at that time, were well-known DJs in the area. (The picture on the right below shows Aldo and Christian's Uncle Carmello enjoying a drink at the bar of the Gatto Bianco.)



As the pictures below show, Aldo himself was something of a DJ in those days, to say nothing of his ability to entertain his customers with a song or two and a tambourine.





1969 was a special year in other ways too. On a trip to France, Aldo met a beautiful young Italian girl called Rocchina whose home village was Rocca d'Evandro in the Italian province of Caserta. It didn't take him long to realise that she was "the one" and within three months of meeting, they were engaged to be married. (The photograph at the top of this page is of Aldo and Rocchina together at that time and the one below was taken on their wedding day)



In 1970, as husband and wife, they decided to open a small café in Skipton and called it Il Grotino. Then came Café Venezia in Bradford. By this time, Aldo and Rocchina were in no doubt about the food business being their particular niche and in 1972 they opened another outlet in Bradford — the Bar Roma Café, which became a major success.

By 1975, Aldo and Rocchina's marriage had been blessed with three children: Aldo Junior, Deborah and Christian. (The photograph below shows Aldo Senior helping Aldo Junior acquire a palate for good wine at a very early age!)



Four years later, in 1979, Aldo and Rocchina came up with the idea of changing the café into a restaurant and thus the Mamma Mia Pizzeria was born.

The following ten years were fantastic ones for the De Vittoris family and, with lots of incredibly hard work and effort, Aldo and Rocchina took the Mamma Mia brand to different locations.







By 1989 Aldo and Rocchina had sold the Mamma Mia chain but Aldo decided it was time for one last project — The Ital — and once he had found the present fantastic building on Bolton Road in Bradford, he forged ahead to turn his idea into a reality, so that, by November of that year, The Ital was welcoming its first customers. Aldo Junior was, by then, 19 and qualified in both Silver Service and as a chef. So too, a few years later was Christian. And as these four worked together, The Ital established itself as one of the North's finest Italian Restaurants.





Unlike the two boys, Aldo and Rocchina's daughter, Deborah, decided to take a different path.

She opted for a career in marketing, founding the Hairy Lemon event company; but it didn't take her long to realise that she too was a natural so far as catering is concerned. She is now the co-owner of the award-winning Oracle Bar and the Battered fish restaurant in Leeds city centre.

In 2001, Aldo and Rocchina decided to retire and hand control of The Ital Restaurant over to Aldo Jnr and Christian. Now, following its recent full refurbishment, the Ital Restaurant is set to keep going from strength to strength, and the De Vittoris family look forward to continuing to entertain their discerning customers for many years to come.