Benvenuti!
Il Cenacolo, the men’s club devoted to Italian culture, has held its weekly meetings here for decades — with only one interruption — our disastrous fire of February 15, 2004. We subsequently moved from our Washington Square premises. Our esteemed Il Cenacolo customers found a temporary refuge elsewhere but now we welcome them back. Il Cenacolo’s mission and history are recorded in Chapter 13 of this restaurant’s history, “The Fabulous Fior: Over 100 Years in an Italian Kitchen” by Francine Brevetti:
While the surrounding culture was veering off in many new directions, some people still retained their love of tradition. During this era, a long-lived men’s club chose the Fior as its regular meeting place. To this day, Il Cenacolo meets at the restaurant every week. Il Cenacolo (eel chen-AH-colo) means supper room in Italian and, by extension, it means a group of like-minded people who dine together and share similar intellectual interests. The word also refers to the famous painting of “The Last Supper” depicting Christ’s last meal with his apostles, painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
This men’s club has met regularly since a group of Italian professionals, recent arrivals from Italy, founded it in 1928. They were an elite group and included Alberto Mellini Ponce de Leon, the vice consul of Italy; Renzo Turco, a Piemontese attorney who was one of those Italians investigated during World War II; Ettore Patrizi, editor and publisher of L’Italia; Luigi Filiasi, from Naples and commander in the Italian Navy; Armando Pedrini, vice president of the Bank of Italy, which later became the Bank of America, and other prominent academicians, businessmen, artists and men of letters.
The society is not restricted to Italians. But its meetings, while in English, explore and highlight aspects of Italian culture. They usually feature a speaker or a program on that theme. Its members are particularly interested in Italian opera and Il Cenacolo has over the years honored several classical singers.
The society met at the Fairmont Hotel for the first half of its life. A founding member, Alberto Campione, was an assistant manager at the hotel. This connection might have accounted for the fraternity finding a venue there.
When it moved to the Fior in the 1960s, the group drew not only its members to the restaurant but the dignitaries, professionals and entertainers who spoke at its luncheons. Among the speakers were Mayor Alioto and his deputy DeLuca, who was also a member.
“I used to practice my Italian there. There was a sense of neighborhood and bonhomie, “DeLuca said. On a number of occasions as deputy mayor, DeLuca addressed Il Cenacolo on matters of city policy, jobs, transportation, and housing.
Since it has been meeting at the Fior every Thursday for over three decades, the group has drawn some people who have become great friends of the Fior, including photographer Tom Vano and Bill Armanino of Armanino Foods of Distinction, who would eventually become a Fior owner.
