by Romalyn Schmaltz
The End of an Era is a phrase bandied about often in places where history teeters precariously on the amnesiac cusp of progress, but the words rang too true late this fall as North Beach bid a farewell to one of its most defining family’s time-defying matriarchs, Caffe Trieste’s “Mama” Ida Marina Pancrazi Giotta, at the age of 101.
Her good friend former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Her passing marks the end of an era for a storied North Beach legacy that, in its third generation, continues to thrive.”
Family, friends, staff, and devoted patrons filled Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church on December 9 to pay respects to the Giottas, whose patriarch and Caffe Trieste founder “Papa” Gianni Giotta, her husband of 76 years, preceded her in death by not quite a decade.
The service included many living North Beach luminaries. Ida’s granddaughter Nicole Pantaleo offered a rich, personal, and informative eulogy to her beloved Nonna(Italian for grandma) on behalf of the family.
“Nonna was born on October 16, 1924, in Rovinjo di Istria, Italy, to her mother Antonia and father Antonio. She was primarily raised by her mother and grandmother, Nonna Clemen, whom she idolized. Nonna Clemen was an unusual woman for her time. She ran the family properties which consisted of vineyards and farmland. She was tough, smart, and business savvy. Nonna Clemen and Nonna had a tremendous bond, one that Nonna passed forward to us decades later.”
A matriarch raised in an old-world matriarchy, Ida nevertheless let one man into her life forever: Giovanni Giotta.
“Nonna met the love of her life, my Nonno Gianni Giotta, when she was 15 years old. Nonno Gianni went to buy wine from her family in their cantina. It was love at first sight, at least for my Nonno, who would ‘bump into’ Nonna around the village when she went for a walk. He tried to talk to her, while she tried to keep her distance because she knew she would be in trouble if caught. Eventually Nonno wooed her, which led to their first kiss on a pier overlooking the Adriatic Sea.”
Some six decades later in 2001, Nicole and her cousin Gianna walked with them onto that same pier and captured a photo of their kiss.
However, life was far from always romantic. The new Giotta couple soon faced the ultimate challenge of fleeing international tyranny.
“Nonno and Nonna were married in 1940 during World War II. Nonna was a witness to history. She was only a teenager when the Nazis occupied her town, and she told us stories of the inhumane and evil cruelty of the Nazis. One that stands out in my mind is when she saw her classmates hung in the square and along the road into Rovinjo. They were executing any suspected Partisan fighters or supporters, including women. Nonna bravely faced the terror of the Nazi occupation.”
“Initially, Nonno Gianni was in the Italian Navy, but later as the war progressed, he became a Partisan fighter against the Fascists and the Nazi occupation. Toward the end of the war, Nonno became ill with a bad infection that left a terrible scar on his back. He walked back to my Nonna, somehow, from Trieste to Rovinjo, which is about 64 miles. She risked her life by helping to hide him in a haystack and smuggle him into town. They hid him inside the basement of a home, where Nonna nursed him back to health.”
“Incredibly, during this period, Nonna had two children. Her eldest son Gianfranco in 1944 and her daughter Sonia in 1945. She told me stories about selling things in order to buy them milk. Their survival during war is a miracle. In 1945, Istria was annexed to communist Yugoslavia under dictator Tito. My grandparents found themselves stuck behind the Iron Curtain. All the family properties were seized.”
The young Giotta family managed to escape to the United States in 1951, living in poverty in a sponsor’s cabin in San Juan Capistrano. There, Gianni Giotta fulfilled the sponsorship terms by digging ditches and washing dishes. But he longed for his family to have its own chance at the American Dream.
“Nonno heard there were Italians in San Francisco, so he came here to scout it out. He found Sts. Peter and Paul Church and met the Salesians, and the family immediately moved to San Francisco. With the help from the Salesians and the Italian Welfare Agency, the family moved into their first home, an apartment on Stockton Street in North Beach. My grandparents sent their children to school here.”
Then in 1956 Gianni and Ida opened the Caffe Trieste, believed to be the first espresso house on the west coast. “Nonna worked side by side with my Nonno on the night shift. Eventually she stopped working outside the home and became a housewife,” raising not only Gianfranco and Sonia but also stateside-born baby brother Fabio.
“She absolutely adored her children. Gianfranco, Sonia, and Fabio were inseparable from Nonna throughout their lives. She was also very close with her grandchildren, myself, my sister Ida, and my cousin Gianna and great-grandchild Amir. The most important thing to my Nonna was her husband, her children, her extended family, and her faith. She had a personal relationship with every family member, including her late sister Femi, stepbrother Nino and his wife Rosanna, her late brother-in-law Frank, daughter-in-law Adrienne, son-in-law Nicola, and Fady, Nabil, and Joe.”
Nicole went on to describe how Mama Ida was at the center of a massive tradition celebrated to this day every month at the Caffe.
“Her most incredible talent was her singing. She sang beautiful Italian songs and arias, often singing duets with my Nonno all over town and on the radio. For decades, she sang every Saturday at the Caffe Trieste. My grandparents were magical on stage. Their deep love for each other and music shined. Even during the last couple of years, Nonna sang with us after every dinner. She sang at her 101st birthday party this past October. Somehow, she remembered the lyrics to all her songs. They are engrained in her soul.”
At the conclusion of her eulogy, nary a North Beach eye remained dry. “We are so lucky to have been raised in such a close family surrounded by music, laughter, the best food, and so much love. At the center of it all was my Nonna. Family was everything to her. Even when her son Gianfranco died in 1999 at the age of 56, my Nonna kept her faith in God despite her broken heart. Nonna demonstrated strength, unconditional love, generosity, kindness, wisdom, and a profound faith throughout her life. She was the matriarch of the family and led us with love.”
Following the death of Papa Gianni in 2016 and coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Caffe, North Beach artist and close family friend James Cha (who also recently died) edited, printed, and hung the window-sized family portraits still on display throughout the Trieste’s façade on Vallejo Street at Grant Avenue. Passersby and patrons can see what this family meant to each other and to the neighborhood from these portraits. The family legacy is indeed being passed to the next generations.
Please join the family for their 70th anniversary on April 1 to celebrate and remember Mama Ida, the matriarch of Caffe Trieste and by extension, of North Beach. Ida’s granddaughter Ida Zoubi, named for her Nonna, co-owns and operates the family business now, while great-grandson Amir enjoys elementary school and will bring the Giotta family story forward.
