From Amalfi
to Atlantic Avenue.

In the summer of 1960, on a beautiful sunny day on the Italian Coast of Amalfi, Luigi Gino Silvestri was having an espresso at a hotel perched along a cliff in the town of A’gerola, where he met his future wife, Anna Maria Savastano. The hotel was being engineered & built by Anna Maria’s father, Beneventura! After a few more visits that week, Gino & Anna Maria soon started dating, while still teenagers! Soon after, they set sail from Napoli to New York, following so many European immigrants of their generation in pursuit of the “American Dream”! Struggling to adapt to life in America & working in hot kitchens and factories for very little money, they decided to head back home to family & friends & return to a life of simple merchants. But before the ship was to depart, they decided to check out New York’s Little Italy district. Walking around, feeling more at home hearing their native tongue among the people, shops & restaurants there, they noticed a for sale sign on one of the restaurants. They walked in to inquire about it, and within a few hours, over some good wine & food, the deal was done. Along with Anna Maria’s sister Vincenza & her husband Giovanni, they became proprietors of the now famed Angelo’s of Mulberry Street!

Neither of them spoke any English, but they managed to communicate through the love & passion of food & wine! They offered customers the food they were raised on — simple, home cooked traditional Neapolitan southern cuisine, fresh ingredient comfort food & “Grandma’s” recipes. Today, Angelo’s is still in full family operation, having survived the ever changing New York restaurant scene & competition!