Melbourne says goodbye to smiling Sisto Malaspina
Maybe only Melbourne would hold a State funeral for an espresso bar owner. Those mourning Sisto Malaspina proved it was the right move.
Sisto Malaspina once said that coffee is not just for your stomach; it is for your soul, your mind and your eyes. At Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral today, his cup overflowed.
Victorian Governor Linda Dessau described Pellegrini’s as the heart of Melbourne and Sisto, its co-owner, as the man who turned it from a Bourke Street cafe into an institution, community and family with his warm smile, vibrant shirts and signature, silk cravats.
Lindsay Fox said Sisto and his friend and business partner Nino Pangrazio were like pepper and salt. He remembered parties where Sisto would sing and play the Mandolin and countless meals in the Pellegrini’s kitchen, where high powered chief executives would share a table with local tradies and become friends for the evening.
“No one made us feel more home in our town than Sisto,’’ said Harold Mitchell, a legendary media buyer and deal maker who over the years, has taken foreign ministers, White House officials and Russian diplomats to Pellegrini’s to show them the true Melbourne.
“Here, most of us at some stage secretly wished that we were Italian,’’ Mitchell said. “For those of us who frequented Pellegrini’s, people like myself and so many here, there has been a moment when we wished that we were Sisto. Thankyou Sisto. You loved us and we loved you.’’
Sisto Malaspina, 74, was killed earlier this month in the Bourke Street terror attack. He didn’t know his assailant and is believed to have been trying to help the man when he suddenly turned on him with a knife.
Only in Melbourne, you might think, would a State funeral be held for an espresso bar owner. Yet, not even the cavernous spaces of St Patrick’s, a Gothic-inspired, bluestone cathedral could house all the people who came to farewell a man who dedicated his life to public service of a different kind.
“We would often question him as to why he would leave to go to work so early knowing that he would return home some 14 or 15 hours later,’’ his son David Malaspina remarked. “His simple reply to us was always the same: ‘my customers.’
“Dad loved Melbourne with a passion and was so proud to live in this unique and wonderful city. He had a number of customers that he saw on a day-to-day basis for many years. Just know that he didn’t consider you customers, he considered you friends.’’
Flags flew half-mast on government buildings, the bells from St Patrick’s rang across the city and federal, state and local government representatives filled the pews alongside Malaspina’s family, friends, fellow restaurateurs and loyal customers.
Malaspina was born in a small, northern Italian town on the Adriatic coast and came to Melbourne in the 1960s, working first a meat works before landing a job with one of the city’s most prominent caterer, Peter Roland.
In 1972, Malaspina and Pangrazio bought Pellegrini’s, an established, 1950s style cafe near the Paris end of Bourke Street famed for introducing authentic espresso coffee to a city where, until then, men drank beer and ladies took tea.
Malaspina worked long, tireless days at the cafe, personifying what Ms Dessau described as Australia’s migrant cycle of opportunity, hard work and prosperity. He was known throughout the city as for his generous nature and wildly coloured kerchiefs, cravats and shirts, some of which he had specially tailored with mismatched pocket.
Mr Mitchell began his tribute dressed in a sombre suit but soon discarded it for a lurid scarf and zesty lemon jacket. “I know right now that Sisto would be saying to me, Mr Mitchell, what is it with the tie? Black suit?’’
David Malaspina said his late father’s fashion sense came from a simple philosophy. “He always felt the way you dress should reflect your personality and he had a very colourful personality.’’
Pellegrinis reopened within days of the Bourke Street attack to accept the condolences of a shocked and grieving city. Malaspina is survived by his wife Vicky, son David and his wife Ruth, daughter Lisa and newly born granddaughter, Sophia.
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