After 21 years, Fitzroy pizza originator Ladro is changing hands, with owner Sean Kierce handing the pizza peel to veteran suburban restaurateur Mark Natoli.

“I realised I was waking up in the morning and finding reasons not to go into the restaurant,” says Kierce. “I knew it was time to get out.”

Natoli already owns three pizza and pasta restaurants, Hugo Dining in Essendon, Cena in Deer Park, and Moonee Ponds’ Carosello, which he bought in 2016. It’s thought to be Melbourne’s oldest existing pizza restaurant, dating to the mid-1960s.

“Taking on an institution, carrying on a legacy, that’s what I do,” says Natoli.

It was grand final day in 2003 when Kierce, designer Ingrid Langtry and chef Rita Macali first welcomed diners to their 45-seat restaurant for thin-crust Roman-style pizza.

At the time, Gertrude Street, especially Ladro’s southern side, was better known for drug trade and graffiti than piping hot wood-fired margherita. But the food fans thronged. The Age Good Food Guide named Ladro best new restaurant the following year, noting: “Ladro’s phone is a hotline to Melbourne’s hot seats.”

Ladro means “thief” in Italian and there were a few pizza tricks swiped from the old country. On the other hand, the venue seemed strongly rooted in Melbourne from the outset, drawing diners away from the paunchy capricciosa pizzas of nearby Lygon Street, and suggesting there was a new kind of fine dining: casual, sassy, ingredient-driven, well-lit and fashionable.

“We hit the nail on the head without really meaning to,” says Kierce. “Rita’s food spoke for itself. It was loud and bustling, we were down to earth. I think it was the honesty that people responded to.”

The plate-sized pizzas were the talk of Melbourne, but Kierce is almost embarrassed when he looks back.

“We used to make the dough at 2pm and let it rise,” he says. “We’d have our staff meal at 4pm, and someone would look over at the dough bucket and notice it was overflowing. That’s how we knew we had to knock it back and make our dough balls.”

“The pizza we made at the beginning is what people would make at home now.”

Outgoing Ladro owner Sean Kierce

Now, the restaurant uses a bespoke flour mix and cold-ferments the dough for up to three days. “The pizza we made at the beginning is what people would make at home now,” he says. “The development of food culture in Melbourne is truly incredible.”

More recently, he’s noticed an uptick in knowledge about cheese and cured meats. “A few years ago, you’d say burrata and people wouldn’t know what you meant,” he says. “Now they not only know burrata, they can tell you how much they love stracciatella, and which prosciutto they prefer.”

Kierce is the last remaining original partner. Rita Macali had a brain tumour and exited in 2008, before regrouping to run Supermaxi in Fitzroy North between 2010 and 2022. Kierce and Langtry opened a second Ladro in Greville Street, Prahran, in 2010 and ran it for 12 years. Over time, Langtry leaned into her design career and finally left the partnership last year.

Kierce considers himself a COVID casualty. “I enjoyed the challenge of lockdowns, keeping everything together, our staff, our customers, our food. But I worked seven days a week for two years,” he says. “I came out of it and things fell into a heap. It wasn’t as fun as it used to be.”

He looks back on 2022 as the hardest year. “A lack of staff, rising costs, rent issues - a perfect storm. I just felt done.”

His last day is Sunday and, after a few months off, Kierce will move into a job as hospitality director at the Marriner Group, overseeing catering at some of Melbourne’s most prominent theatres. “I’ll be making sure the choc tops are the right flavour at the Princess Theatre, and ensuring the champagne served at a BHP event at the Plaza Ballroom is the correct temperature,” he says.

Mark Natoli’s old school friend and corporate escapee Stefano Boscaglia will also take a stake in Ladro.

“I used to work in my parents’ restaurant, and I’ve maintained a keen interest in hospitality,” says Boscaglia. “I’ve always admired Ladro, and it’s an honour to take the baton.”

The new guard will retain Ladro favourites (the Badabing pizza with spicy pork and fennel sausage is safe), but there are changes planned. “We’ll add banquettes, redo some tiling and look at increasing the numbers,” says Boscaglia. “But we’ll see what the feedback is, look at the demand. We want to invest in Ladro.”