The ANNOTICO Report

In Venice Florida, the streets, buildings and festivals all bear Italian
names and the official architecture is Northern Italian.

Emilio and Loredana Rossitto have filed plans with the city to build a
5,012-square-foot, all-Italian grocery store to replace -- at twice the
size -- Angelo's Italian Market, which the Rossittos have operated for the
past 14 years next to Valenti's Restaurant on East Venice Avenue.

Emilio attributes his success to the fact that so many Italian- Americans
are moving here.

Another example of a "modern twist" on the "old Little Italys"??. A
cohesiveness without the insularity!!!

Herald Tribune
South West Florida's Information Center
By Lauren Glenn
May 7, 2005

VENICE -- In this city where streets, buildings and festivals all bear
Italian names and the official architecture is Northern Italian, it perhaps
is no surprise that business is bustling for Emilio and Loredana Rossitto.

The Rossittos have filed plans with the city to build a 5,012-square-foot,
all-Italian grocery store next to Montgomery Carpets on East Venice Avenue.

It would replace -- at twice the size -- Angelo's Italian Market, which the
Rossittos have operated for the past 14 years next to Valenti's Restaurant
on East Venice Avenue.

Even though Angelo's is just a few blocks from Publix and Kash n' Karry,
Emilio Rossitto said his store has had no trouble attracting customers.

"Our No. 1 seller is our sausage, without a doubt," he said. "We make it
here. Every piece of meat here is cut by me. You can taste the difference.

"It's also helped that there seem to be so many Italian- Americans moving
here. I tell City Hall they should thank me for that."

Inside their current store, the shelves are filled with rows of imported
noodles, wines, seasonings and grocery items. A deli freezer displays a
variety of cold cuts and other meats; another displays different desserts.

If it's approved by the Venice Planning Commission, Angelo's Italian Market
will be built along the Venetian Gateway.

Because of city architectural guidelines governing the gateway area, the
store must adhere to the city's preferred Northern Italian architectural
standards.

Rossitto said he hopes to begin construction by late June and be finished
by October.

So far, the design plans and presentations to city planning staff have been
well received.

"I haven't heard any concerns," said Donald Caillouette, a comprehensive
planner with the city.

The city's development review committee has already signed off on the
store, Caillouette said. The Venice Planning Commission could make the
final decision at its May 17 meeting.

The Rossittos moved to this country as children, brought by their parents
from Sicily. Emilio was 12 when his family moved. Loredana, who moved a few
years later, was 15.

Years later, they met in Connecticut, fell in love and got married.

Now they work together as the owners of Angelo's. Both also still speak
with a marked Italian accent.

"I was born and raised in Sicily, signorina," said Emilio, 42. "I started
this as a little boy, working part time after school."

When his family moved to New Britain, Conn., he said, Emilio took an
after-school job working in an Italian grocery store called Angelo's.

He stayed on for 16 years, eventually taking a full-time job there.

In the early 1990s, he and his wife moved to Venice after becoming enamored
of the place during a vacation.

Soon after moving here, they opened an Angelo's of their own.

"When I first came down to this area, there was a need for this," Emilio
said.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050507/NEWS/505070
410/1006/SPORTS
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