The Parisi family opened a pizza bar in Hindley Street (Marcellinas) in the 1960’s which, along with its pizza makers tossing dough high into the air and at a rich price of 80 cents for a 9 inch pizza, was something new in Adelaide. The boys learned their pizza making skills from their father Antonino and of course all the other Italian cuisine came from who else but Mama!

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     La Trattoria opened in 1975. This family run business has played host to rock stars, athletes, politicians and hordes of loyal regulars and it is still going strong. A wall of photos is evidence of La Trattoria’s loyal patronage including the rich and famous Mick Jagger, Jon Bon Jovi, John Farnham, Eric Bana, Ayrton Senna, they are all there, among many others.

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     In 1975 the current building was an old butcher shop and if you look in the arch back room of the restaurant you can see how thick the walls are. This was the old cool room and Andy and Chris themselves took jackhammers to these walls to create the arches. 

 

     “We started with the pizza oven in the front and the back room only as a restaurant", recalls Andy. "We were going so strong that in a few years we purchased the dry cleaners next door and another shop and then another. While I was concentrating on making pizzas Chris was the host.” Everyone loved our father. When they realised that his children had opened a restaurant we had a lot of loyal Marcellina customers coming to our restaurant.

Along the way we have slowly increased our outdoor dining capacity and now cater for up to 80 people al fresco.

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