Giovanni Mazzone has been serving hearty, sun-drenched southern Italian culinary classics to appreciative Pretoria diners since the early 1970s. For the past two decades he has been assisted in this task by his son, Fortunato. The restaurant is divided into three with an informal, family-friendly salumeria, a romantic, adult interior and a wine cellar-based private dining room much favoured by the rich and famous. Fortunato doubles as sommelier and resident operatic tenor too. Giovanni doesn’t sing but his celestial cassata Siciliana is a sweet signature dish deluxe.