Machiavelli founder Giovanna Toppi dies aged 85
After six decades ruling Sydney's restaurants La Strada and Machiavelli, Italian doyenne Giovanna Toppi has died.
NSW
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Sydney’s culinary community is in mourning after the death of one of its longtime matriarchs earlier this week.
Legendary Italian doyenne Giovanna Toppi, known for former celebrity haunt La Strada and Clarence St power lunch spot Machiavelli’s, has died aged 85 following a long illness.
Ms Toppi, who spent more than sixty years ruling Sydney‘s restaurant scene, died on Wednesday at Sacred Heart Hospice in Darlinghurst.
The Naples-born Ms Toppi cooked for wealthy families in Europe before emigrating to Australia in the 1950s, where she worked in hospitality before quickly setting up the first of her string of successful dining institutions, O Sole Mio, before moving on to self-titled Giovannas.
Opening up-market Italian institution La Strada on Macleay St, Potts Point in the 1980s with late husband Walter, Ms Toppi welcomed in and fed local and international stars including Elton John, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Hutchence and Mick Jagger until it closed in 1996.
But it was the renowned Ristorante Machiavelli, which opened in 1988 and was helmed by Ms Toppi for 28 years, that remains a power-lunch institution for politicians and millionaires to this day, though it was sold in 2015.
Despite a number of health scares over the years seeing her step away from time to time, the 85 year-old remained an active part of her restaurant empire, working together with daughters Paola and Caterina in 2018 to make a comeback with her last creation, Rushcutters Bay restaurant Bar Machiavelli.
But the Toppi family hit the headlines in May over a $1.5 million legal stoush in the Supreme Court which threatened to see them lose the premises of Bar M over an allegedly unpaid loan.
The case outcome has not yet been made public, and as of May was yet to be determined by a judge.
Giovanna Toppi is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held for family and friends next week.
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