Italian Retail Ghosts of Parramatta Road

by Nick Angelucci

It is crazy to believe that in the 1950s and 60s a section of Parramatta Road in the Inner West was one of the three highest turnover shopping strips in Sydney.

The early Italian migrants arriving at the time could only afford to lease shopfronts along this strip, but by the late 1960s and during the decline of Parramatta Road businesses, Italian migrants started buying up many of the available commercial shopfronts as well as populating the retail strip, which was centred by Norton Street.

By the mid-70s, there were around 175 Italian-run businesses clustered along a two-kilometre stretch of Parramatta Road on both the Leichhardt and Petersham sides.

For those with very long memories might recall some of the retail shopfronts along the Italianised sections of Parramatta Road. Some of these names may resonate like Castorina & Sons Butchers, Aldo’s Meats Butchers, La Fiorentina Pasticceria, Lucky Tom Homewares, D'Angelo Furniture & Electrical, Silvio Delicatessen, L&M Santoro Delicatessen, Bar Via Veneto, Antonio & Maria’s Gourmet Takeaway, Montano Realty, John Vitt First National Real Estate, Tony Logozzo Leichhardt Fruit Fair, La Rustica Restaurant, Miramare Italian Restaurant and the iconic Casa del Disco… which incidentally still remains seemingly