Joe Pieri got a surprise when he answered the door bell to his apartment in Bishopbriggs, Scotland this weekend -- standing at the door was the Mayor of Barga, Umberto Sereni. He was in Scotland for the Garibaldi celebration but took time off to help the official launch of Joe’s latest book which has just been published.
Joe Pieri: Shop owner of the ‘Savoy’ chain of fish and chips and writer. Left Barga at the age of 18 months and has lived in Scotland ever since (apart from a stint at an internment camp in Montreal during the War). Learnt to use a PC at the tender age of 75 and has since published three books including the bestseller ‘The Big Men’ and the tale of Italian internees, ‘Isle of the displaced’ as well as ‘Tales from the Savoy’ recounting his days as a Glasgow Cafe owner.
Mr Pieri attributed the success of emigrant Italians to a drive to better themselves which led them to seek their fortunes in foreign lands. He started work in his father’s restaurant aged 14, but all four of his children have degrees. Mr Pieri said: “My education was virtually non-existent. I taught myself English by going to the ‘talkies’ and writing down any words I didn’t know and looking them up in a dictionary.”
Link to this story in the Kirkintilloch Herald Scotland
that was very nice to see and hear, it is a wee bit further than aristos,and I have found out whose fault it is that I am the size I am today I knew all the savoy chippies good stuff
OLD times, football and music were the topics of conversation as a distinguished guest visited a popular author.
Joe Pieri welcomed Umberto Serini, the mayor of the Italian city of Barga, to his home in Bishopbriggs last week.
The 88-year-old Italian-born writer knew Mr Serini’s father from their days at the famous Savoy Restaurant, in Glasgow.
Joe said: “The main reason he was over was for the Scotland versus Italy football match, but there was also a concert in Glasgow honouring the bi-centenary of Garibaldi’s birth.
“I was invited, but I couldn’t make it. So Umberto came to see me. We drank coffee, had a chat . . . it was great.”
Joe was born in Barga in the 1920s. When he was only 18-months-old, his family left Italy in search of work.
They moved to Scotland and opened the popular Savoy fish and chip restaurant in Hope Street, in Glasgow.
Life in Glasgow and the colourful characters who frequented the Savoy have featured heavily in many of Joe’s books, most notably Tales of the Savoy and The Big Men.