Italain Job: Uniting North & South in Portie

When Piedmont native Gianmaria Pedroli first set foot in Portland, he fell victim to a familiar malady - he was spellbound.

"Negril and Mobay nice," he declares, " but I never see anything like this place." The effect was so gripping that Pedroli decided to stay, and that meant he needed to support himself. So, what's a well-thinking, northern Italian man to do in such circumstances? - Open a pizza joint, "My sister in Italy has a bakery, so this is natural progression for me."

menu fold

Natural progression ,but some unnaturally hard work and effort to get the place up and running. but since October of last year, The Italian Job has been serving customers of all types from its location in downtown Portie. Though Portlanders are not strangers to pizza, Pedroli has helped ease the transition (and cover economic and stylistic bases), with an interesting "dual-style" approach. "By the slice, I sell the Neapolitan (or southern) style but I also do my traditional Tuscan style for whole pizzas".

A section of Downtown Pt Antonio

its working "Little by little" thus far, he says and adds that, at this point, his local traffic exceeds that of the overseas visitors. he further balances the menu with several budget items (cheesy dogs, etc) that start as low as J$100 to keep customers coming in and the cash register ringing.

Redroli works diligently with his staff of six to keep service high at the sit-down/take-out combo. "I mix in the Jamaican and Italian way of working," he says.

He is still revelling in the incidence of "first-time thrill”when people discover his food and enjoy it not having tried it before, and is now anticipating the introduction of delivery service. "I bought a small scooter; there is demand out there, especially among working people." he will also shortly introduce dessert. 

Italian Job is open Everday till 10 pm; 29 Harbour Street; call:291-4310