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| Alana and Allesandro on opening night 2010 |
The Mad Italian at 1581 Bayview Ave. has closed. It appears that two other locations on College Street and Danforth Ave. have also closed. The locked doors suggest a distress shuttering of the four-year-old gelato, coffee and Italian food restaurant It was a business born in much excitement and colour, the creation of Allesandro Settimi and his Canadian wife Alana. They were assisted by Mr. Settimi’s father and mother. Both men were genial examples of their national extraction with the older Settimi, Aldo, having been an influential Italian legislator at one time. The whole family plunged into the project and it was not uncommon see to Aldo Settimi vigorously handing out samples of the gelato on the Bayview sidewalk. His wife was a talented cook and her porketta roast sandwiches developed a noticeable clientele. The atmosphere seemed infections. The puckish name was easy to remember. So it was that in August of 2011, about 18 months after the business opened, Allesandro Settimi received an offer to buy it outright. By that time, Settimi had started a second location on College Street in Little Italy. It is rumoured that the buyer offered the family a sum in excess of $800,000. In any case, the Mad Italian changed hands with the new owner opening a third location on the Danforth. The stresses of what is, in the end, a summertime business began to show. Attempts were made to broaden the off-season appeal. It is said on the street that the rent was being paid month to month at the South Bayview location. Whether it can be said that Mr. Settimi was the business, remains an open question. Nonetheless, the atmosphere at the Mad Italian was not the same without the gregarious owner greeting patrons at the door. Photo South Bayview Bulldog
