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NewsFarewell Mario, the good memories linger onBy Danielle BlewettDecember 10 2022 - 8:00pmBy Danielle BlewettDecember 10 2022 - 8:00pmFacebookTwitterWhatsappEmailCopy'None of this sentiment

is as strong as my memory of a giant tray of stuffed artichokes and a bottle of grappa he brought to us ...' Shutterstock picture Long before our city's café culture, there were the likes

of Peter and Toula, Angelo, Pasquale and Rosalba, Christine and Mario.

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50% off EOFY SaleAll articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperCrosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll other regional websites in your areaContinue Peter and Toula owned an

amazing fruit and veg shop on Charles Street, where Toula's art turned a dark cavern into a Greek landscape.

Angelo, a stalwart at the Italian Club, danced Friday nights.

Pasquale and Rosalba were wholesalers of most things European, including giant jars of the very best olives.

Christine, Polish, and Mario, Italian, lived atop a row of terraces on Balfour Street, with their daughter Lorinda.

Vintage reader, that was 30 years ago.

Of course, we were the interlopers.

READ MORE: How Morty's changed Launceston forever

Freshly-minted NSW hippies: Two adults, two children and a cat called Tonto.

We rented a sprawling, freezing, Italianate terrace from Mario.

The terrace, now painted a light shade of aqua, dominates the corner of Balfour and Charles streets.

We planted capsicum in its handkerchief garden and harvested a bumper crop during that first year in Launceston.

Our girls would scoff handfuls of Pasquale's olives.

We felt secure in our tiny Italian/Greek enclave in a city of overpoweringly beautiful Anglo architecture juxtaposed against its brutal convict history.

Angelo gave our girls chocolates, prizes from his dancing escapades at the Italian club up in Prospect.

We attended the occasional Italian mass at the Church of the Apostles; we felt we belonged. Immigrants.

Pasquale and Rosa's daughter Julianne was at school with our girls; Sacred Heart - of course.

However, this is not really about the warmth of our Mediterranean welcome to this magical island.

READ MORE: Neuron mobility pauses their e-scooter operations in Launceston

All of us have scattered. Except Peter and Toula - who still live on Charles Street and Lorinda on Balfour.

Last week Mario died.

Mario had land down the Tamar River where he grew everything from artichokes to the grapes for his home-brewed grappa.

On Sundays we would take our rent upstairs, past Mario's dog and cockatoo.

We were often greeted with espresso and on one memorable occasion, invited to share a giant cray (won at the Italian club).

Cray, olive oil and espresso, some Sunday treat.

I can picture us now in a kitchen dining room, big enough for Mario's giant red espresso machine, clothed table, Christine, Lorinda, us - sun shining; a pinch-myself moment - a mixture of

business and pleasure, because Mario was a businessman.

I believe Mario was the man behind Mario's Wholesale - an enterprise that, 50 years ago, brought the southern Mediterranean to Launceston.

However, none of this sentiment is as strong as my memory of a giant tray of stuffed artichokes and a bottle of grappa he brought to us one Friday evening.

My regional NSW palate had not prepared me for the moment of joy that was a properly stuffed, freshly roasted artichoke, dripping with olive oil, all oregano and tomato unctuousness.

The grappa, Mario's home brew, was in a two-litre flagon.

We had no wine glasses.

One Vegemite glass of Mario's grappa was enough to lodge a tomahawk of pain squarely between my eyes.

Vale.

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