Brisbane’s pasta kings lodge plans for Valley art gallery, cooking school

They are best known as Brisbane’s kings of pasta. But now the Cazzolato family are branching out into an exciting new venture that includes a cooking school.

The Cazzolato family, beloved by generations of pasta fans, have lodged a development application to convert an ugly duckling Fortitude Valley building into a cooking school, art gallery and more.

Angelo Cazzolato and his clan have been making fine pasta products for half a century, with their Angelo’s Fresh brand a popular supermarket staple.

Now, they have applied to convert a 900 sqm Wandoo St light industrial building into a three-storey art gallery, cooking school, offices and rooftop terrace.

The funky-looking makeover includes extensive use of the brickwork seen in the area, once an unfashionable commercial centre but these days the epicentre of trendy Valley homewares and clothes shops.

The material change of use application, lodged a fortnight ago with Council, also includes a shop, food/drink outlet and office.

The venue's look is designed to blend in with the character of the light industrial precinct.

How the mixed use venue will look.

“The proposal incorporates a high-quality architectural design with an attractive frontage to provide a positive contribution to the existing character and streetscape,’’ planners Town Planning Alliance said in the DA documents.

“The building design adopts the use of significant variations and recesses in the building form, a mix of building materials and finishes and extensive design elements such as the arc windows.’’

An extra 167 sqm of space would be created on the first floor of the building, which also fronts Morse St, and an extra 82 sqm on the ground floor and a rooftop terrace.

Site cover would increase to 98.5 per cent, above the allowable 90 per cent, but the design retained verge plantings and would include new landscaping.

Aerial view of the location.

There would be no extra parking, a potential problem in an area where street parks are very difficult to find, including on weekends.

Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products has been supplying Brisbane restaurants and families with top quality continental products for the past 53 years.

Donna Cazzolato, along with her brother Michael and sister Anita, took over the business from their parents Angelo and Val.

Angelo started hand-making pasta under the family’s New Farm house in 1968 using two small past machines he took with him from Italy.

Since then, the business has steadily grown to become Queensland’s largest award-winning pasta producer.

Anita, Val and Michael Cazzolato, with some of their Angelos Fresh Pasta products.

Born in northern Italy, Angelo migrated to Australia in 1952, aged just 19, and worked a variety of manual jobs including the Snowy Mountains Project.

In 1963 he received a medal for setting a world record in tunnel drilling – almost 180m in one week.

Angelo moved the manufacturing operation to a factory in Wandoo St in 1975.

He then relocated Angelo’s Fresh Pasta Products around the corner to the current site on Doggett St where the bold, red paint work has made it a local landmark.

More details on Council’s online DA portal developmenti. search for application A005887542

Angelo Cazzolato at work in 2003.