FIRST PERSON: Rocco Gurnari reveals all about out growing up in Italy, fulfilling a life-long dream of opening his own restaurant and cooking for Sir Cliff Richard

“I was born Rocco Gurnari in Calabria in Italy, near Sicily. My mother had an affair with my father whom she worked for. He worked for the Calabrian mafia and was married with eleven children. She had four children with him. When I was four years-old she decided to send me to Genoa to live in a priest hood for safety because she feared there was a risk that he would give me away to another family. I stayed in the priesthood for 12 years and it was not a good experience. All I wanted to do was play football but I was not allowed to play for a team- only the priesthood. I escaped about 20 times and each time was returned by the police until the priests decided I couldn’t live there any longer. At 14 I was living on the beach and stealing food from the market or eating food from the sea because I was starving. I was sleeping in the station in Genoa by a big hotel and went there to asked if they wanted someone to wash up or a waiter. I was very lucky because the general manager asked me where I lived and when could I start. I said I could start that night but didn’t have anywhere to live. He sent me upstairs to a room to get washed and I started work at 6am the following day. After four weeks I became a Commis waiter and two months later progressed to a demi-chef, serving the customers and enjoyed it. The manager sent me to work in a hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland to improve my language skills. While in Genoa I played for Sampdoria youth football team and broke my ankle so the manager said I couldn’t play again at that level. So I played for Lucerne and was lucky because the manager of the hotel was a fan of the football team. He said whenever you play a game you can have a weekend off so I made sure I played. In Switzerland every six months you have to go back to your home country for visa reasons. I also worked in a hotel in Lausanne where I skied in the winter and spent the summer by the lake. I was also able to take a month off to spend with my mother in Italy. At 19 I was called to do national service in the Italian Army which I really enjoyed and played football for the air force in Genoa. When I finished I applied to work on a cruise liner that featured on television called ‘The Loveboat’ which sailed from to Bermuda from New York. I worked as a waiter on cruise ships, including the QE2, for six months at a time for about four years. During that time I travelled to places like Los Angeles, Mexico and the Caribbean.

I came to Wales to learn English because I thought I could earn more money on the ship. An Italian agency sent me to work in an Italian restaurant in Cardiff which employed Italian waiters who only spoke Italian. After two months I left and worked at the Royal Hotel, Cardiff as a waiter and then as head waiter. I went back to work on a ship for six months and returned to The Royal in the 70’s before working at what was The Gateway Motel in Newport and The Priory in Caerleon. I went back and forth on the ships and when I returned I was sent to The Three Salmons Hotel in Usk as a supply manager. There was a restaurant on Bridge Street that had closed so talked to my wife whom I married in Newport in 1977 and agreed I would buy the restaurant. I went back to work on the ship for nine months until I had enough money to buy it and fulfil a lifelong dream. It was completely derelict so I had to do it up. In 1985 I opened the restaurant which was originally called ‘Il Gardino’ before becoming known as ‘Rocco’s Italian Restaurant’ and cooked everything myself.

My friend the late George Savva who owned Savva’s nightclub said he would send the performers to the restaurant after the show every night if I stayed open late. His club attracted big names to the town such as Sir Cliff Richard, who became a good friend, comedians Chas and Dave, Freddie Starr, Peters and Lee and Hale and Pace.

We never had a menu just a blackboard so I would serve whatever I decided to cook that night. I was fully booked every day. Sir Cliff would stay at the Cwrt Bleddyn hotel when he was performing at Savva’s and we would often play tennis together. He would regularly come in with his chauffeur and manager and a group of people from the mid 80’s until the late 90’s. I would stay open until the early hours and cooked a set menu. They were relaxed because they knew they wouldn’t get bothered by other customers or fans asking for photographs.

Sir Cliff was great. To me he was just Cliff. He would bring his mother to the restaurant and she was lovely. I cooked the food for his 50th birthday party in his house in England. He would come in the kitchen with me and I showed him how to cook certain things. He used to love my risotto but said it didn’t taste the same as mine when he tried to make it himself at home so I showed him how I make it.

We would visit Usk Castle for a walk with my dog, whom he loved, or go to Wentwood Forest. He liked it because no-one bothered him in Usk. I remarried and had a son Roberto in 1992 which was the best day of my life. I closed the restaurant that day and went straight to the hospital to meet him. I had very loyal customers who came in every week. Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin would often come to eat at the restaurant. Other famous people who came here were Russell Grant and the late Desmond Llewelyn, who played Q in the James Bond films. Desmond used to come in quite a lot while he was visiting is niece at Usk Castle and was a real gentleman. He would come in late and we would often eat together.

I have many good memories of the restaurant and the people who came there.When my wife and I divorced the restaurant was sold. I took over The Beaufort Arms at Monkswood for a year before opening a restaurant at Goytre Wharf in 2007 that was previously empty. I refurbished it and opened it as an Italian restaurant which I ran for five years. I returned to live in Usk three years ago. Everyone still asks me if I will open another restaurant again but I am enjoying retirement, walking, making my own pesto and wine as well as coaching children’s football in Abergavenny on a Saturday."