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I've been trying to figure out the relationship between the English and Northern Irish Morellis. This article includes a picture of the Portstewart Morelli's, but they're not the same business (and indeed each of them seems to studiously not refer to the existence of the other).
NIhistory page: Ice-cream business founded 1911 by Peter [Pietro] Morelli, of a family from Casalattico, whose brother Joe [Giuseppe] had a cafe in Ballymena; Peter set up in Coleraine, then Portstewart, and was succeeded by his nephew Angelo in 1925.
English history page: "It began in Scotland [in 1907] when Giuseppe and his young son Mario, recently arrived from Southern Italy, set off on their bicycles every morning to sell their ice cream", but is very vague as to where they were active between 1907 and the setting up of the shop in Broadstairs in 1932.
The WP article here (about the English firm) mentions Casalattico and gives Giuseppe as active "in Scotland and Northern Ireland", but it's not clear where that came from - it may be garbling the details of the two. So: are the two Giuseppes the same man? Were they cousins from the same village? Or is there no connection at all? Andrew Gray (talk) 21:19, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Obituary of Mario Morelli (set up the Broadstairs shop) - born Woolwich c. 1902, returned to Italy for education, "...joined his uncle in Northern Ireland where he learned his trade in the ice cream business. In 1922 he married and moved to Scotland to establish his own business. In 1932 he came to Broadstairs...". Not conclusive, but does seem plausible that the uncle in Northern Ireland was Pietro.
Interview with Angelo Morelli (took over the NI firm) - born 1907, arrived Ireland 1916 with father Barbato, worked in a cafe in Dublin, back to Italy, then Coleraine in 1925. No mention of other cousins who might have been working there in the 20s, however.
All remains a bit mysterious. It's certainly consistent that they were connected, but no-one ever quite comes out and says so. Andrew Gray (talk) 22:04, 2 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is an this "About Us" page on the NI website (not sure how I missed this one before) that seems to tie it all together:
His brother Joe ventured further north and after landing in Greenock, Scotland, he crossed the sea to Ireland and established a café in Ballymena. [...] Peter’s brother, Joe moved back across the Irish Sea and re-established his business in Broadstairs on the South coast of England. Our cousins there have expanded the Morelli brand further by establishing ice cream parlours in Covent Garden, the Dubai International Mall and at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo.
So the NI firm do explicitly acknowledge a family connection to the English firm, which I think confirms everything. I wonder if it might be worth renaming this to something like Morelli's Gelato and splitting out a Morelli's (Northern Ireland) to distinguish the two - the NI ones seem about as notable as their cousins, and they are very much independent businesses rather than one being an ancillary of the other. Andrew Gray (talk) 11:41, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
