After last week's feature on 'ghost signs', today's Object of the Week is a mosaic advertising a business which no longer exists.
In the heart of Darlington, a mosaic bearing the name ‘Iannarelli’ links what is now a much-loved cafe to a tragic tale of love, loss and ice cream.
This tale of an ambitious Italian family stretches back to 1895, when Guiseppe Iannarelli set sail with his wife from Naples to Plymouth.
He had dreams of a lucrative life, different from the shepherd’s life he knew in his village of Attina.
The Iannarellis found Plymouth uninviting, and homesickness coupled with a harsh language barrier led them back home for the birth of their child.
Bereaved by the deaths of their first two boys, the hopeful couple made a second expedition to England in 1902.
This time they brought their two children to Darlington.
There they acquainted themselves with the Rocco Rea family, proprietors of an established ice cream business.
Guiseppe learned the ice cream trade and pursued his own businesses - a coke-burning chestnut oven in Darlington Market Place and a summertime ice cream stand in North Lodge Park.
In 1910, bolstered with skills and experience, Guiseppe opened his own café in Skinnergate, self-proclaiming himself a "master confectioner".
Tragically, in 1918, his daughter Beatrice and cousin Emilia fell victim to the rampant Spanish flu epidemic.
Future plans were shattered as Alberto, Guiseppe’s eldest son, chose love over his father’s dream of retirement.
He married Darlington woman Norah Jardine, causing an irreversible rift between father and son.
Alberto built a small fleet of wooden ice cream barrows of his own and set up an ice cream factory in Abbott's Yard.
Regrettably, the relentless Spanish flu claimed another victim, and Alberto passed away in 1935 at the age of 38.
Alberto’s younger brother, Giovanni continued his ice cream handbarrow trade, even having a stand in South Park until the 1960s.
Following Alberto's death, Giuseppe's other son, Antonio, revealed his expertise in mosaic art acquired in Manchester.
His work remains a testament of the Iannarelli legacy in the black-and-white family-name mosaic embedded at the Skinnergate shop entrance.
During the Second World War, the Skinnergate café was passed down to Guiseppe’s last two children, Anna and Michael.
Previous Objects of the Week:
- Why this 'ghost sign' preserved on city centre wall is a relic of the past
- Why this historically significant Darlington railway bridge looks so simple
- The big story of a big horse and a big challenge to keep it white
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The war wasn’t a kind time for Italians in England, and Anna changed the café name to her married name, AE Smith, for protection.
The Skinnergate premises has been home to the popular Three Squares Cafe - now one of Darlington's oldest independent businesses - for decades.
But the Iannarelli name is still eternally inked on the entrance to the shop, a monument to a legacy that encapsulates a tale of hardships and sweet resilience.
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