Two Italian South African families give us a seat at their table to talk about their restaurants, heritage and adoration for the food philosophies that made them. 

The one thing you’ll find in almost every South African town, for better or worse, is an Italian restaurant. We have an insatiable appetite for cheesy pizza, pasta swimming in sauce and three-tiered tiramisu. So, we owe our gratitude to those restauranteurs who not only dish up the Italian food we adore, but also give us a healthy serving of their culture – and love – which makes our food scene and knowledge so much richer for it. Meet two of South Africa’s pioneering Italian South African food families, who show us how it’s done.

The Turillis

“Flat white/cortado are swear words in this caffè!!!” reads a handwritten sign above the coffee menu at Lello’s Caffè, in De Waterkant, Cape Town. Below it, a sticker of the Italian flag is proudly displayed. Please order and pay at the counter, choose a chair at a café table and wait for your single shot coffee with tempered milk, all served the traditional way. The walls are stone, the ceiling is low and there’s a minute van parked outside. As they say: when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

The Turilli siblings who own and run Lello’s Caffè, and the older Lello’s Deli right around the corner, are proud of their Roman and South African heritage. It all started with their nonno (grandfather), Lello, from the small town of Rieti just outside Rome. He taught his son, Ricky, everything he knew about not just making Italian food but also “The Italian Life”, which involves sharing food around a table with people you love.

After emigrating to South Africa after the Second World War, Lello worked as a mechanic (with his Italian chef buddies cooking up a storm in the backrooms of the garage) while Ricky started an illustrious, decades-long career as a restauranteur. His most recent restaurant, Scarpetta, was all about this Italian life. He converted an old Woodstock house into a laid-back space where the menu changed depending on the season and what Ricky, “The Big Boss”, felt like making that day. He visited all the tables personally, sharing his food philosophy and explaining the dishes with infectious passion and humour.

It’s no wonder then that his two children, food stylist and former MK food editor Chiara, and fashion photographer Danillo, followed in his footsteps. In October 2021, the siblings joined forces and opened Lello’s Deli to honour all that their nonno had taught them. They stock top quality Italian and local products, along with their homemade cold meats and paninis. The pair have made it their mission to find brilliant local artisanal products and share their finds at the deli. You can also find some of Scarpetta’s finest offerings as take-home servings and the legendary desserts made by their mom, Melissa (who’s day job is nursing).

Just two years later, the siblings opened Lello’s Caffè just around the corner to bring true Italian coffee culture to Cape Town. Here, they serve their own dark roast coffee (based off Lello’s own recipe) alongside 48-hour fermented schiacciata panini (Italian sandwiches) and cornetti (an Italian version of a croissant). The family often return to Italy to savour their heritage and constantly learn new things. They take their social media followers along for the ride, too, creating a vibrant community in the process – which is brought together at pop-up events. As nonno Lello became a fixture at Ricky’s restaurants, Ricky also became a beloved face at Lello’s Deli. A local legend was lost in 2024 when Ricky passed. Chiara and Danillo are planning to open a new place soon “in honour of our nonno Lello and now our dad, aka The Big Boss”.

“We aim to build a community through bringing food stories to life,” says Chiara. “Food nostalgia, dishes that never left your mind, vintage recipes. Bringing those fond memories to life of Sunday night dinners where famiglia and friends gather around a table of humble food.”

The Viljoens/ Treccanis

The most important ingredient in Italian food is love – followed by simple and fresh ingredients, says Chiara Viljoen. That is the kind of food she grew up eating, since three of her four grandparents hail from Italy. Her mother, Luciana, grew up there, too. As a result, she and her brother Ryan are “proudly three-quarters Italian”!

The siblings and Luciana started Café del Sol in Joburg in 2007 after realising they’d rather share “this taste of love” with clients and “touch people’s hearts through food”, rather than stay in unfulfilling jobs. Nearly two decades later, they’ve added two more restaurants and changed their local communities’ perspective on Italian food for the better. Locals now know all about risotto, artichokes and other ingredients that seemed foreign to them back in the mid-2000s. They have spread their knowledge even further afield with their cookbook, Our Italian Legacy of Love, published in 2021 (and featured in May 2023 issue of MK).

The family’s winning philosophy is to never compromise on their ingredients. “We import the best, believe in freshly handmade pasta and dishes, hormone-free and grass-fed protein where possible and sustainable fish. We strive for food that has amazing flavour and hasn’t been played with too much. Italian food should make you feel good after eating and not be heavy,” Chiara explains.

Their South African heritage plays a role in their food, too. “Being Italian South African, we are open to all food tastes from around the world. We even have a few Asian-inspired dishes on our menu. We’ve incorporated our South African Italian roots into our menu with dishes like springbok carpaccio, beautiful cuts of South African meats like fillet on the bone and milk tart panna cotta. We’ve also adjusted our pastas to the South African palate: In Italy, pasta is the star of the dish with little sauce, but in South Africa the sauce is the star,” she adds.

After 17 years, it seems they’re just getting started. Chiara, Ryan and their mother Luciana have their sights set on opening new restaurants in lifestyle estates, since the sense of community living in these areas reminds them of the Italian way of life. Cape Town and Mauritius, keep an eye out for a Café del Sol near you soon! It’s all about “serving up wholesome, Italian food made with love”.

Gather round

Some other italian tables to take note of…

ICE DREAMLAND,

Plettenberg Bay  

This is an Italian lunch as it should be: children playing, sunshine streams through vines, pizzas and salads arrive at the table just as you need to dig into another dish and there’s Italian flowing out of the kitchen window. Marco has been making coveted mozzarella, ricotta and yoghurt there for decades and, in recent years, opened a Sunday lunch pizzeria and gelateria next to his home. His whole family is involved, including his daughter Chiara – yes, the third Chiara on our list! Set aside the whole afternoon – you won’t want to leave!

REMO’S ITALIAN,

Gqeberha

Renzo and Franco Scribante started a restaurant in 2007 to honour their late brother’s boyhood dream of opening a place together. Today, fittingly, they have three spots: one in Gqeberha, Joburg and Durban.

Dine out on dishes made according  to their mother’s recipes, sip on imported Italian coffee, admire the black-and-white Scribante family pictures and browse their deli of Italian staples.

COL’TEMPO DELI,

Durban

Father and son Hylton and Paul Rabinowitz started selling their homemade dry-cured meats at Durban food markets in 2014, but soon realised they needed a bigger home for their increasingly popular Italian salamis, prosciutto, bresaola and the like.

You can visit them at their Col’tempo deli and cafe for a bite to eat and to shop their products, which now goes way beyond cold meats!

Words by: Christi Nortier
Photographs: Supplied