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Fremantle Mayor laments passing of original Roma matriarch

FREMANTLE Mayor Peter Tagliaferri has expressed sorrow at the passing of Nella Abrugiato, the family matriarch who helped establish the original Roma Restaurant in 1954.

Together with her husband Frank, they pioneered the introduction of previously unknown Italian delights to the port city, creating a Fremantle institution at the west end of High Street.

“Frank and Nella were renowned for serving quality Italian food amid old-style, back-to-the-50s décor,” Mayor Tagliaferri said.

“The menu changed very little over the 50 or so years of the restaurant’s life, as they always kept customers’ favourites at the ready, and the décor remained the same, especially the famous laminex tables.”

But when the Roma originally opened its doors, it took some time for the venue to get established, as owner Frank Abrugiato told All about town in 1987: “…we were very brave to open in Fremantle, not Perth. Fremantle was really neglected then… for the first few months, things were very slow but it eventually picked up and we’ve been busy ever since.”

After Mr Abrugiato passed away in 2000, his daughters Morena Abrugiato, Viviana Murray and Mirella Keutzer took over the restaurant and continued the Roma legacy, until the family made the difficult decision to finally close the doors in 2006.

Mayor Tagliaferri said the Roma Restaurant – once named one of WA’s top 20 BYO restaurants by West Coast Magazine – had been a true Fremantle icon, embraced by locals and tourists alike, year after year.

“The Roma almost had a cult following and packed them in, right until the very end, with its old Freo feel,” he said. “And Frank and Nella’s recipe for success was simple – good food matched with good service, making guests feel at home in a house of good cooking.

“Consistency was the key to the restaurant’s quality over time and the proof was in the queues that formed outside on most nights with diners quite happy to wait for a table.

“The customers also liked the fact the same family ran the business for more than 50 years – some of the regulars had been dining there for more than four decades.”

In recognition of its formative role as one of WA’s top hospitality icons, the City of Fremantle presented a special plaque to the Abrugiato family in 2006.

The restaurant was given a new lease of life six months’ later when Nunzio Gumina, father of Fremantle’s cappuccino strip, re-launched it as the Villa Roma (www.villaroma.com.au).