They turned Lygon St from fish and chips to pizza. Now they’re leaving
In the ’70s the Brosca family took a risk and opened a restaurant serving an exotic new type of food — pizza. Fifty years on, Alex Brosca is selling his family’s restaurant that became a Lygon St institution.
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When the Brosca family moved to Carlton in the mid 60s, Melbourne’s north was mainly filled with fish and chip shops and milk bars.
Dad Gino Brosca was working at Toto’s – considered to be the first pizzeria in Australia – with a group of neighbourhood friends from Naples, Italy, around the corner on Lygon St.
Seeing how much locals enjoyed the traditional Italian food, Gino and his wife Silvana decided to take a risk, and in 1973 they opened up the now beloved restaurant Papa Gino’s.
“In the ’70s and ’80s, Italian restaurants just flourished. They took off everywhere,” son Alex Brosca said.
The iconic institution transported its customers back in time with its exposed brick walls, old Italian photos and delicious, hearty pizza and pasta dishes.
Gino sadly passed away in 1988, but the family – including four sons Alex, Vincent, Paul and Harry, and sister Rose – decided to continue on, and last year celebrated their 50th anniversary.
But Alex said recently the family had to make the “incredibly difficult” decision to sell the restaurant, due to financial difficulties from the pandemic and Victoria’s multiple lockdowns.
“Coming back from Covid was the worst time for us. We had to borrow to get back. It was just really an awful time,” Alex said.
“And then when we did get back, we got hit with all the extra taxes, because everything was deferred until you went back to work, and it was just basically playing catch up until now.
“Although we did get a bit of money from different government (handouts), it still wasn’t enough.”
He said most of his friends who owned local businesses were left with no choice but to close shop.
“When we got back, because of our reputation, we had some of our best years financially, but because of all the extra overheads, it was difficult to keep going,” he said.
Alex said they had sold the restaurant to another family, who had been employees for the past five years.
“They’re planning on keeping everything exactly the same,” he said.
“In the 50-odd years that we’ve been there, we haven’t changed a thing. And they think it’s a good formula.
“Being there all that time you develop emotional attachments to customers. It was difficult, but in the end we’re all in our 60s, and physically, we’re basically falling apart. It was time.”
He said Lygon St was “a very different beast” nowadays.
“A lot of the places have shut down, and there are still a lot of empty shops. But I think that’s happening in every suburb at the moment. It’s not unique to Lygon St,” he said.
“It’s probably lost a bit of its Italian flavour. There are a lot more different types of restaurants and shops opening now.
“On weekends you can barely move. There are people everywhere. During the week, it’s hit and miss.”
Alex began working in the restaurant as a 10-year-old, doing chores before and after school such as peeling olives and anchovies.
He said he had initially started a photography course at RMIT University, but his father convinced him to work for the business full time.
“Basically, dad wanted everybody in the business. I probably would have been a starving photographer, so it was probably a wise move to go into hospitality,” he said.
“My mum stopped working not that long ago at age 83. The only reason she stopped was because she had to get a new shoulder put in – she worked well above retirement.”
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