Hamilton’s favourite Italian son
Hamilton has two things to thank Joe Di Maio for: 20 years of mouth-watering pizza and excellent coffee and a giant Christmas tree towering over the CBD every December.
With Joe around, for years even the dampest wintry day in Garden Place had one thing going for it: a burst of music – usually Italian – carried on the chill wind.
Opened in 1981 and situated next to the library – pre-dating it by at least a decade – the crisp red-and-white decor of Joe’s Gelato Arlecchino, replete with large Italian copper-and-brass espresso machine, boosted the spirits and energy levels of Hamiltonians.
Deputy mayor Martin Gallagher described Joe, who served two terms as a city councillor, as a larger-than-life character, an extroverted and boisterous ex-patriate.
‘‘Joe’s spot in Garden Place was an iconic Hamilton eatery. It was Joe’s dream to open a place like that, and he took great pride in serving up authentic Italian pizza and gelato, and espresso from a tremendous golden machine which caught the attention as much as Joe’s trademark lively conversation’’.
Food writer Denise Irvine interviewed Joe a number of times over the years and remembered his innate sense of hospitality and warm-hearted Italian way of greeting customers.
‘‘Taking an interest, talking to them about the food; there was a feeling of being truly hosted by Joe, and that each customer was important.’’
Such was his mana that when, 21 years later, Joe retired, the Italian ambassador Roberto Palmieri flew in to honour the occasion. It is perhaps hard to picture now but, when Joe pulled into town, Hamilton was a vastly different place. If the Waikato had tumbleweed, it would surely have blown through the deserted Garden Place on a weekday evening. In the wider city, milk bars, huge booze bars, nightclubs, and restaurants such as Cobb & Co were about all that was on offer.
Joe’s gelato, pastries, pizza, and coffee transformed the old DIC building and dragged the city’s entertainment scene from its slumber.
Joe came to New Zealand as a raw teenager with little English in 1951.
As he told it, his typical ‘‘Italian mama’’, Letizia, encouraged him to emigrate when he was just 17. She packed his bags, even including precious cheeses and salamis (which were, of course, confiscated by Sydney Customs) and sent him on his way. Said Joe of his experience at the time: ‘‘It was after the war, there wasn’t much of a choice in Italy.’’
But the early split must have been hard on the young man, who never forgot his roots. And his mother remained a daily presence in the form of a large photo in his gelateria.
As it turned out, New Zealand perfectly suited the physically powerful Joe’s work ethic and versatility. He was met off the flying boat from Sydney by his uncle, who took him to Nelson, where he worked growing tomatoes for three years. He then went back to his original profession as a cabinetmaker, working for a time on a dam being built in the Cobb Valley. Also, while in the Nelson area, he learnt ballroom dancing and became a professional dancer.
In 1953 he saw a carpenter’s job in Murupara advertised in the newspaper, applied, and stayed in the small Bay of Plenty timber town for 25 years. Whilst there he decided to change his profession, and as Murupara had no hairdresser, he went to Wellington to train, and then opened a salon.
Joe served the Murupara community in the St John, the fire brigade, and, for nine years, on the borough council.
In Hamilton, Joe developed a circle of Italian friends including Pino Grilli, who helped him set up Gelatos, Ugo Gini, Paolo Spadoni, and cricketer Daniel Vettori’s father, Diego Vettori. Every couple of months, a group would get together at one of their houses over dinner and some bottles of wine to play cards, usually trezsette – similar to 500.
Joe admitted just before he retired from the gelatoria in 2002 that, at times, he had found it hard to stick out the two decades in Garden Place.
‘‘In some ways I feel as if I have served 20 years in jail because I’ve been fixed to the one venue for so long. But I have had wonderful inmates . . .’’
His tolerance and acceptance of children was legendary, with one customer telling the Waikato Times that Joe did not get ‘‘all uptight’’ and insist on high chairs and peace and quiet. But his care for children extended beyond just a smile.
Justina Perdija, writing in the Times’ online comments on the news of Joe’s death, described him as nothing less than ‘‘a great man’’.
‘‘I remember a few times I would be in your shop during school times and you would always make sure I was okay, I was the little Croatian girl that was a huge fan of you and your constant happiness and your genuine caring nature. Thank you, Mr Joe, for listening to a very troubled young person.’’
Pinned to the wall when he shut up shop for good was a card from a Melville Primary School pupil following a class visit. ‘‘Dear Joe, Thank you for taking as (sic) from (sic) your shop and giving us an ice cream too. And thanks for the hot dog. The ice cream was the best. From Shane’’.
Writer Kingsley Field, whose office was directly above the gelateria, remembers Joe giving a young South American boy a job.
‘‘He then spirited him away to a restaurant in somewhere like Wanaka or Queenstown when the authorities tried to deport him. I met him clandestinely down there; he subsequently married, and now has a family somewhere in NZ.’’
Of course, his same love of children was played out at home. Daughter Carina described Joe as ‘‘first and foremost’’ a family man.
‘‘He was a loyal and loving son, father and grandfather. ’’
Two years after closing Gelato Arlecchino, in 2004 Joe successfully stood for Hamilton City Council and was re-elected in 2007.
Councillor Dave Macpherson says Joe was noted for his friendliness to colleagues around the council table.
‘‘His ideas were always interesting and were driven by his enthusiasm for the city and its people,’’ Dave said.
Former deputy mayor Gordon Chesterman said Joe was influential in securing Hamilton’s giant Christmas tree, placed in Garden Place – just metres from the old Gelato Arlecchino site – every festive season.
The flag above the council building flew at half-mast on Thursday as Joe was farewelled at St Peter’s Church in Cambridge.
Joe was father and father-in-law of Carina and Hugo, Angelina and David, Giovanni and Harriet, Mario and Hope, and Antonia and Steve; Nonno of Beccy, Jess, Bella, Luca, Matteo, Valentina, Lorenzo, Edie, Evita, and Nina; and the former husband of Jan Kissane.
Sources: family, Waikato Times reports, Hamilton City Council