Page 131 - Demo

131was interred on the Isle of Man during the Second World War because he had retained his Italian citizenship. This though didn%u2019t seem to dull his entrepreneurial spirit. After the end of the hostilities ice cream vans, fish and chips, sweet shops and the trendy Bis-Bar in Park Lane (which became Johnny Ringo%u2019s and Finos, and is now where Port of Call is), which was the first of Sunderland%u2019s many subsequent Italian restaurants, followed.As for Luigi Notarianni, he sold the Silksworth Row business to the Fella family and moved to Blackpool (where the Notarianni name still trades today, proudly only selling vanilla ice cream with a variety of different sauces and toppings). The Fellas came from the same village as the Notariannis, and operated for many years from Silksworth Row (my nana and granda first met when working there, something I discovered when researching this history), and operated an ice cream van which I remember coming down to South Hylton in the 1990s.The Ciaraldi%u2019s came from a village just 9 miles from the Fellas and Notariannis when Luigi came to Sunderland. The locals seemingly struggled with prouncing the name though, and so Geraldi%u2019s ice cream was born.The Minchellas are still trading in Sunderland and South Tyneside with their ice cream and fish and chips businesses. Guiseppe Minchella first started making ice cream in Fence Houses - selling it to the miners - after coming from a neighbouring village to the Notriannis and Fellas. He then moved to South Shields to open a larger shop on Prince Edward Road.Guiseppe had three sons and two daughters. After learning the trade from their dad, the three sons all started their own businesses in South Shields which are still running today. The Minchella name first came to Sunderland when one of Giuseppe%u2019s grandsons married one of Benedetto Notarianni%u2019s granddaughters. Their children now run the fish and chip shop just off the sea front at Seaburn next to the development that Benedetto Notarianni took a gamble on all those years ago. They still make ice cream on the premises to the original recipe.Romano%u2019s restaurant in Cleadon was also established by the family and continues to be family run today.Lizzie Valente selling ice creams in Northumberland Street. Credit: Sunderland Antiquarian Society