Domenico Elia
WEDDING EVENT EXPERT
When dreams come true...
Michele Ferruccio Tuozzo
Il Nostro Buon Nome (Our Good Name).
biography of Domenico Elia
If Fabrizio de Andrè had known the story of Domenico Elia, he would surely have dedicated 'Via del Campo' to him: ... from diamonds nothing is born, it is from manure that flowers are born!
Michele Ragosta
former Deputy of the Republic
A story that began long ago...
The first to doubt my decision were my parents, they did not want to see another son leave... But I knew what I wanted and so I convinced my uncle Alessandro, called Santino, my father's older brother, to help me. It was he who bought me the second train ticket.
I left again. Everything was the same as the first trip, the only thing that had changed was me.
After about 20 hours of travelling, I finally arrived in Brescia and there by bus I arrived in Lumezzane. I immediately set to work between the bar and the pizzeria, but I was a very shy beginner and being in contact with the public was complicated. I was unfamiliar with the job of barman or pizza chef. Valentino then made a decision, perhaps the most important one for my career, and took me to work in Bergamo at the pizzeria of a close friend of his. There I started working as a pizzaiolo. I quickly learned the secrets for a 'lady pizza' and became quite good at it. I stayed and worked there for a year, I liked it there. I had new friends, a scooter and a girlfriend. Everything was going well. But my brother's plans were different, he wanted me to go back to work with him and as a brother, I could not ignore his request. I understood his needs and requirements and returned, albeit reluctantly, to the Seagull. It was immediately a success, we were accomplices in everything and this was our strength. Customers liked us, they loved our cuisine and our pizza. We decided to renovate the place and called a local company for the work. But the work started to take a bad turn: the workers who came in were gangsters who stole our peace of mind. They demanded that we pay the bribe so that they could continue working undisturbed. For us it was a tsunami that swept through the place, our dreams, our savings....
Valentino did not accept to pay, he could not stand injustice, abuse of any kind. And with the outspokenness and unconscious courage of his 22 years, we decided to denounce them. Our life changed for the worse. We achieved unwanted popularity, the newspapers were talking about us: 'Young southerners denounce loan sharks'. Once the trial ended with the conviction of the extortionists, Valentino made a decision: to leave the province of Brescia. There were too many bad memories that robbed us of energy. We closed the business and Valentino left but I stayed and worked in a pizzeria in the centre of Brescia called 'Lem'. I didn't want to leave my everyday life. But I knew very well that soon something would change, the Elia brothers still had a long way to go!
Valentino has always been an enterprising spirit and this has allowed him to always stay one step ahead...
He found a place to renovate in Ogliastro Marina di Castellabate, a lovely place by the sea. He called me and said 'Come down', 'We'll open a pizzeria', 'We'll name it after you'. Can you refuse such a proposal?! I did not hesitate in my decision, his project was engaging. So after a couple of months we opened the pizzeria 'da Mimmo', which involved the whole family.
Initially the pizzeria was to be named after me, but it was I who took his name.... From Domenico I became Mimmo for everyone.
Meanwhile I divided my time between Brescia, where I spent the winter, and Ogliastro Marina for the summer...
Our professional ambition led us to take on another great challenge: on 17 June 1989 we opened a restaurant/pizzeria in Palomonte, 'My World'. That was the beginning of the first events and weddings organised by us. With its opening I had to leave my job in Brescia.
Right from the start, My World gave us a lot of satisfaction and with the various evenings organised we became a meeting place for young people.
My work ambition was at its peak: I was 22 years old and already managed two clubs.
That was the so-called spark that ignited our dreams: there was something else to realise, another secret dream that we kept in our hearts...
The goal was to create something big in Buccino as an act of gratitude to our parents and to tell those lands, those mountains I despised, that I recognised their value. In 1992 we started work on a piece of land that was partly owned by our parents, where I used to take the cows to graze as a child. It was among oak trees, surrounded by greenery, and it was there that our dream would materialise.
In 1994, immersed by work in 'My World', we closed the pizzeria in Ogliastro.
What followed were challenging and very satisfying years, but if there is one thing I have learnt from life, it is that all good things, despite ourselves, come to an end. All the harmony of that flourishing period was interrupted by terrible news: a tragic illness struck Valentino and within a few years he tragically passed away on 25 February 1997. He left his wife Silvana and his two still very young children Gerardo and Rita... Valentino was only 36 years old. It was a piece of me that disappeared forever; I felt extinguished. It was not a man who died but a star, and like all stars that die, they drag all their splendour with them. But it could not end like that, I had to let his light shine through. I felt a great responsibility towards his dreams. So I decided to complete the project we had started together so that everyone would know Valentino through the things he dreamt of, the things he believed in.
In 1998 I moved My World to Buccino and threw myself headlong into the realisation of our new project.
That same year I married a wonderful, strong woman, a rock, my Pia.
She was my moral, psychological and professional support. She transformed herself from ISEF specialist to chef with commitment and dedication.
On 10 June 2006, after 14 years of hard work, bureaucratic obstacles, financing and bank mortgages, 'Elia Hotel' opened.
The realisation of a project, the realisation of a dream that seemed utopian for many, but not for Valentino and me.
Dedicated to Valentino:
“I look at my children, my grandchildren, my wife Pia and my sister-in-law Silvana
and my thoughts go to you, Valentino.
Everything brings me back to you.
The landscapes of these mountains, once a place to escape from today are for me the roots on which to live, on which to anchor my love for my family and for you.
I could never leave these places, and I wish that here,
my children and grandchildren would find that strength, that harmony,
that courage, that determination that forged us and led us to
to be what we are”.
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