The Faccio sisters, Gemma and Chiara were happy and busy on Saturday night as they hosted a pizza party for friends and family to celebrate one year of business.

Sorella’s Pizzeria in Rolf Valley is a family enterprise in its truest sense.

Marco Faccio who is a director and has financed the business has also done a lot of work on getting the building physically modified and working nicely. Wife and mother Lucina Faccio helps with marketing the venue. Gemma, who is qualified as a chef runs the kitchen, whilst Chiara is the front of house.

Gemma, who has helped open other restaurants before, found the experience tough at times but her experienced proved invaluable. “Learning what you have to do to start up a business has been hard, especially getting all the admin side sorted.”

Chiara cites Gemma as the brains behind the enterprise, but her own personal experience as front of house in London restaurants has made her the best person to make their customers feel at home.

On working with family Gemma says, “We have our moments, there will always be days when we are at each others’ throats, but it hasn’t been bad enough to cause us to want to stop working together or anything like that.” From where I was sitting, their closeness is probably one of their biggest strengths.

Gemma says that business has been good in their first year. “Our location is great being close to St. Johns school, and though things get a bit slow over school holidays, it’s going more smoothly than we expected for Sorella’s.”

There were about sixty people present on Saturday, enjoying delicious pizzas and wine late into the evening.