First I'd like to say, that I was surprised to learn that Ivano and Augusta Panelli immigrated from my husband's grandmothers hometown of Capannori. Secondly, I'd like to say that I was born and raised in Northbeach some 73+ yrs ago, and have fond memories of San Francisco's 'Little Italy'. I was baptized and went to school at St's Peter and Paul, and years later, Father Costanzo administered the sacrament of matrimony on my wedding day (I married an Italian boy from Sonoma, CA; still married all these 42+ yrs). I remember mama taking me to Panelli's and the 2 guys behind the counter always giving me a handful of salami or prosciutto. I remember all the times we went there while I was growing up, even after we moved to the Richmond District where papa and mama purchased a home on 38th Ave, and my siblings and I completed our schooling. Papa used to work at New Joe's, then later, Original Joe's, and for the remainder of his working years, waiting tables at Scoma's, until he retired. Mama worked for Sonoma Mission Creamery on Battery St., and I went to work for Office Mgr Arthur Schultz at Candlestick Park, where I worked until I got married and moved to Sonoma Co. Italians, like my parents who immigrated from Italy to S.F. Northbeach, all knew each other back in those early days; going to all the Italian picnics, the various Italian festivities, celebrations, and parades, and the men would play cards, bocce ball, sing, and talk 'baseball'. 3 of those men were my dad Carlo Sardi, my Godfather Nello Orlandi, and their best amico, Gino Pellegrini. Those days may be gone forever, but the memories of Northbeach Italians will live on and on in the hearts, minds, and the memories of those who lived it, and share it now with our children and grandchildren, and maybe, someday, someone will make a movie about 'the Italians of 'Little Italy's Northbeach in San Francisco', where the wonderful aroma's of good Italian food and wine, and Italian's could be seen and heard everywhere talking 'with their hands', found to be no place else throughout the city, but in Northbeach. One thing I'd like to ask, does anybody have a photograph of 'Panelli Bros' storefront, before it closed down a few years ago now? I want to wish the Panelli family the very best of everything!
Con affetto di tanti ricordi,
Linda Sardi Tremonti

Fri 1 Feb 2019