The Italian brothers behind one of Leeds' best loved family restaurants have said it is an "absolute honour" as they are recognised in the King's Birthday Honours. Geppino “Gip” Dammone, 68, and his brother Gianfranco “John”, 64, have been recognised with a British Empire Medal (BEM) for their services to hospitality after working at Salvo’s in Headingley, Leeds, from its opening in 1976 until retirement last year. Here they share a history of the restaurant and how it came to be.
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00:00Leeds, 2010, and among the bright lights of the big city, one family restaurant continues
00:10to go from strength to strength.
00:14Salvo's, run by brothers Jip and John Damone, entertains nearly 2,000 customers per week,
00:19and today is regarded as one of the best spots for Italian food anywhere in the country.
00:30But the story of this restaurant begins with Salvo himself, 60 years ago and 1,000 miles
00:35away on the coast of the Mediterranean.
00:37My dad was born in Palagonia, which is a province of Catania in Sicily.
00:43Very agricultural.
00:44It was what they call in Italy campanellismo, wasn't it?
00:47Yes, yes.
00:48Life revolves around a centre within the earshot of the bells of the local church.
00:55So to actually leave the town was quite a big thing really, wasn't it?
01:00If you married somebody from the next town, you married a foreigner almost.
01:04It was that sort of thing.
01:07But in a flamboyant move that was a sign of things to come, Salvatore Damone escaped Sicily
01:12and found love on the Italian mainland, marrying Nunzia Calce in 1954.
01:20The young couple had big dreams, and for reasons unknown, a belief that the place to make them
01:24happen was Yorkshire.
01:26The conversation might go like this, is that in America?
01:29Yeah, America, you're part of London.
01:32So they didn't even know where the hell anything was.
01:35To get out of extreme poverty, to make a new life, they knew nothing other than a name.
01:42So we ended up in Leeds.
01:46In 1954, the Damone's swapped the sunny hillsides of Italy
01:49for the charms of England's industrial north.
01:54They had little money, but carried with them a passion for Italian food
01:57that would be the family's lifeblood for years to come.
02:01My mum always used to say to me, she used to laugh about vegetarianism.
02:06She said, vegetarians, we were all vegetarians.
02:09We couldn't afford meat.
02:11I mean, meat is expensive.
02:14Meat was an absolute luxury.
02:17One of the dishes that I remember having as a kid
02:20that none of my contemporaries ever heard was,
02:23which was aubergines, which in southern Italy is called
02:26la carne del popolo, which literally translates
02:29to the meat of the working classes.
02:32Any southern Italian from that era,
02:35where poor food is all there is
02:38to spend time, love, care and attention
02:41on making food taste good.
02:45At a time when olive oil was still something
02:48you got from the chemist, Salvatore and Nunzia
02:51opened a string of Italian cafes throughout the city.
02:54But when their sons were born, Salvo and Nunzia
02:57decided to raise the family back in Italy.
03:02In Nunzia's native Salerno, the family set up a restaurant
03:05at Tartorio della Sport, and it's here that Gip
03:09learnt the lessons in Italian cooking that stay with him today.
03:12I was trained by this old man
03:15who was well-known all around the town.
03:18He could look at a piece of dirt proving on the marble top
03:21and put his hands in and tell me how many litres of water,
03:24how many kilos of flour, just by sight.
03:27So he was a formidable guy, quite scary.
03:31Because of the schooling I've had in Italy
03:34by somebody who really was a pizza master,
03:37everything matters. Where's the oregano from?
03:40Where's the flour from? Where are the tomatoes from?
03:43Everything matters, and when it all comes together,
03:46well, you get pizza.
03:58But things were never simple for the Damone family.
04:01In the early 70s, a cholera scare in Europe
04:05devastated the restaurant trade.
04:08Penniless and desperate, the family decided
04:11to try their luck in Leeds one more time.
04:14So Dad comes back here, calls on the hospitality
04:17of a Sicilian friend,
04:20and five of us are living in an attic
04:23in a Victorian house in Harrolds.
04:26In Harrolds, yes.
04:29Dad having itchy feet, the fact that he didn't have
04:33an obstacle for him.
04:36Borrowing from friends, Salvatore dusted himself down
04:39and set about opening a new restaurant.
04:42With no money for staff, the whole family had to play a part.
04:45The day that we opened, it was all very much a last-minute thing.
04:48Mum made the tablecloths, which she'd finished sewing
04:51probably about half an hour before we were due to open.
04:54With matching pinners.
04:57You were in the kitchen. Dad did the pizzas.
05:00I was in the kitchen washing up
05:03and basically generally helping out
05:06and we all stuck in.
05:09The de Monais knew that this was their last chance.
05:12Everything depended on the success of Salvo's.
05:15That sheer hunger and desire to work
05:18bearing in mind where Dad had come from
05:21there was an absolute, totally
05:24I think it's fair to say, totally driven
05:28This had to work.
05:31So we opened the doors
05:34and people started coming in and they never stopped.
05:44Today, Salvo's is a modern, successful restaurant
05:47but the brothers won't forget where they came from
05:50though it's not as though they really have a choice.
05:53This restaurant has still got
05:56Dad's personality stamps all over it.
05:59It's really interesting how I look at you
06:02and I still think, he's turning into Dad.
06:05It's what I'm thinking.
06:08I'm turning into my old man.
06:26I'm turning into my old man.