Stepping into the heart of the Cavallaro family

T Cavallaro & Sons Pasticceria, a family-run business that has been creating and selling Sicilian cannoli, biscotti and cakes for the past 68 years, is an institution. To step inside the small, bustling shop located in Footscray, in Melbourne’s inner-west, is to step into the heart and soul of a family legacy that dates back to the late 19th century. It is a shop steeped in its Sicilian heritage, where the Cavallaro family’s history and traditions are kept alive through the generations who continue to create speciality sweets for their customers. Tony Cavallaro shares what it means to be the ‘custodian’ of these special Sicilian recipes passed down from his own grandfather to his parents, which he is now passing onto his own children.

Anthony ‘Tony’ Cavallaro can often be found ‘out back’ of the shop baking an array of Sicilian treats alongside members of his immediate and extended family. As he fills a plaster mould (in the shape of a lamb) that originally belonged to his grandfather, he explains the history of the Cavallaro family—sharing stories of his family and its history with those who visit the pasticceria brings a lot of joy to Tony.

Tony is the only child of Tommaso and Sarina Cavallaro to be born in Australia. His older siblings, Carmelo, Angelina, Giuseppe and Milena, were all born in Lipari or Stromboli, small islands off Sicily, another larger island located off the southern tip of Italy. There are remnants of Lipari in the framed photographs that adorn the walls behind the counter of T Cavallaro & Sons Pasticceria.

All my life experiences and memories are surrounded by the shop—my first words, my first footsteps, everything.

Tony’s father, Tommaso, was a successful businessman in Lipari. As a baker, he had used recipes handed down from his father dating back to the late 19th century. Tommaso had met Sarina while catering for her sister’s wedding, and they married in Italy in 1938. By 1949, the Second World War was over, they had four children, and Tommaso decided to set sail for Australia, like many Southern Italians, in the hope of providing a better future for his family. In 1951, Sarina and the children joined him, and they settled in Yarraville, not far from Footscray.

In 1955, Tony was born, and in 1956, Tommaso and Sarina opened T Cavallaro & Sons Pasticceria at 98 Hopkins Street, Footscray. The family moved from Yarraville and lived in the small dwelling that adjoined the pasticceria. It’s against this backdrop that Tony speaks of his own experience of ‘growing up’ in the family business, leading him to where he is today.

‘When Mum and Dad bought the shop, that’s where I lived,’ he says. ‘All my life experiences and memories are surrounded by the shop—my first words, my first footsteps, everything.

‘I can also remember the five-minute walk each day from the shop (and home) to St Monica’s Church and school, where I attended primary school, and so you can see the shop has been a part of my life for many years, and it holds a very special place for me.’

The lambs represent Easter and new life ... By giving these gifts at Easter, you’re offering that person peace and serenity.

Following high school, Tony dabbled in architecture studies at RMIT but soon realised his heart wasn’t in it. So, when the opportunity came for Tony and his older brother Carmelo to buy into their parents’ shop in the early 1980s, he said yes. And he hasn’t looked back. ‘I just know I’m where I’m meant to be,’ he says.

Over the years, up to 13 members across three generations of the Cavallaro family and their in-laws have worked within the vibrant and aromatic premises on Hopkins Street. Currently, you’ll find Tony and his wife of 38 years, Rosa, their sons Robert and Andrew, Rosa’s sister-in-law Erica, and nieces Nicky and Tina. Carmelo and his wife Sera also worked full time in the shop for many years before they retired in 2022.

I don’t regard myself as a business owner,’ he says. ‘I’m a caretaker of Mum and Dad’s business ... carrying on the traditions and leading the Cavallaro family into the future.

The pasticceria is a hub of activity out back as the various family members create their renowned cannoli, a crispy, light pastry in the shape of a short tube that’s filled with vanilla or chocolate custard (or both), or ricotta. The pasticceria is also known for its coffee, biscotti and wide array of cakes, which are often custom made for birthdays, baptisms, communions and confirmations.

In the lead-up to Christmas, the family bakes homemade gingerbread biscuits and Sicilian torrone (or nougat), a log-shaped dessert containing crushed almonds and toffee, dipped and coated in dark chocolate. As Easter approaches, Tony creates marzipan pascal lambs for his customers, filled with sponge cake and fruit mince. ‘The lambs represent Easter and new life,’ he explains

‘They also signify the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world ... By giving these gifts at Easter, you’re offering that person peace and serenity,’ he says.

The plaster mould used by Tony to create the lambs originally belonged to his grandfather. ‘This mould is something that my father was using, and his father before him,’ says Tony. ‘I’m holding something that my grandfather was holding 130 years ago, back in Sicily, where it all started.’

People often say, “How can you spend so much time with your wife and your family? You’re together 24-hours!” But I love it! I love working with my family.

The recipes also stem back to this time and have remained unchanged since then. Tony considers himself ‘the custodian of the family recipes’ as opposed to ‘a businessman’.

‘I don’t regard myself as a business owner,’ he says. ‘I’m a caretaker of Mum and Dad’s business. I’m just carrying on what Mum and Dad wanted me to do in carrying on the traditions and leading the Cavallaro family into the future.’

It is something that he has now passed onto his own sons Robert and Andrew, with Robert working full time in the pasticceria and Andrew part time. ‘People often say, “How can you spend so much time with your wife and your family? You’re together 24-hours!” But I love it! I love working with my family,’ he says. ‘I also enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephews and their parents.’ He admits, though, that his new grandson, Vincenzo, is now ‘the centre’ of his universe.

Tony is grateful that he can spend so much time with family doing what he loves: serving customers from near and far, and of all ages, Sicilian delicacies that date back to his grandfather’s time. He’s also conscious that people ‘choose’ to walk into the shop, and have done so for years and years. ‘It’s a privilege,’ he says.

‘Being a business owner, the best thing I can hear is when somebody walks in and says our place brings back memories of them coming in with their parents or their grandparents, and it evokes those sorts of memories. That’s really inspiring for us.’

We don’t take people for granted. We really understand that people choose to walk through our doorway [and] to put us on their tables for special events and special functions. And in doing that, they have us in their lives.

Recently, a customer, Joe, came into the shop with an old black and white photograph of his parents’ wedding. It showed Tony’s father on the left of the wedding couple, next to a three-tiered cake that he’d made. The wedding was in July 1956, only a month after the pasticceria had been opened by Tommaso and Sarina. Tony is certain this was the first wedding cake his father had made in Australia, when the shop opened in Footscray 68 years ago.

‘One of the things that makes us strive to carry on the family’s legacy and to do things better is that we don’t take people for granted. We really understand that people choose to walk through our doorway. In the same way that they choose to put us on their tables for special events and special functions. And in doing that, they have us in their lives.’

I find the more you interact with people, the more you don’t see them as customers ... I treat them as friends.

Though Tony spends 90 per cent of his time out back, he also enjoys being out the front, in the shop. There are a few small tables around the shop’s walls where people can enjoy a coffee and something to eat. He takes great delight in sharing with people his love of family, the history and tradition of the family’s recipes, and his love for Footscray, given he’s spent his life there.

‘I find the more you interact with people, the more you don’t see them as customers,’ he says.

‘You see them as people because they too have homes and mortgages, they have kids, parents, grandparents and all the problems we have. And so that’s helped me to be a better person. Rather than treat them as customers, I treat them as friends. I know people on a first name basis, and that’s pretty special.’

Tony intends to enjoy a few more years working in the pasticceria with his family, carrying on the traditions and stories that have been passed down now the Cavallaro family through four generations. ‘As challenging as it is, I’m grateful that I’m the one carrying on my parent’s business,’ he says. ‘I’m grateful that I can share this with my wife and family, and that they too enjoy being part of this special tradition and legacy. I’m hopeful that my son Robert will carry on the tradition.’