Del Pezzo Restaurant

Del Pezzo Restaurant was an eatery located at 211 West 34th Street (and later, on West 40th and West 47th)^[1] in New York City. It was frequented by singers connected with the Metropolitan Opera Company in the early 1930s.^[2] It was a favorite restaurant of Enrico Caruso;^[1][3] he and Giacomo Puccini dined there during the latter's visit to the United States in December 1906. They were joined by Marziale Sisca, the dean of Italian-American publishers, who owned the newspaper La Follia.^[4] The restaurant was also frequented by Life magazine staff members^[5] and by artists, such as the group that first met in 1950 to establish Raphael Soyer's Reality magazine.^[6]

References

1. E.V. Durling, "Women Make Life Stretch", Milwaukee Sentinel, November 18, 1955.
2. Police Slay Thug Who Defied Search, New York Times, January 20, 1931, pg. 5.
3. Simone Cinotto, The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City (University of Illinois Press, 2013), ISBN 978-0252095016, p. 199. Excerpts available at Google Books.
4. Puccini in America, American Heritage, April 1959, Volume X Issue 3.
5. Charles Champlin, A Life in Writing: The Story of an American Journalist (Syracuse University Press, 2006), ISBN 978-0815608479, p. 129. Excerpts available at Google Books.
6. Andrew Hemingway, Artists on the Left: American Artists and the Communist Movement, 1926-1956 (Yale University Press, 2002), ISBN 978-0300092202, p. 239. Excerpts available at Google Books.