{"id":62874,"date":"2022-02-20T18:07:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T18:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=62874"},"modified":"2022-02-22T23:48:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T23:48:23","slug":"princesses-pranks-and-pavarotti-the-tales-of-giovanni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/02\/20\/princesses-pranks-and-pavarotti-the-tales-of-giovanni\/","title":{"rendered":"Princesses, pranks and Pavarotti: the tales of Giovanni"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Owner of Wales\u2019 longest established Italian restaurant shares his journey<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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GIOVANNI Malacrino, owner of the Cardiff restaurant franchise Giovanni\u2019s, claims to have been on more than 200 television shows and met dozens of celebrities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His restaurants are decorated with photographs capturing the best moments of Giovanni\u2019s 39-year history. This includes snapshots of Mr Malacrino with icons such as Princess Diana, George Best and Luciano Pavarotti, who all ate at his restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Malacrino said: \u201cThe first celebrity to come here was Shirley Bassey, then I was introduced to Tom Jones, Audrey Hepburn and others. Every picture can tell a story. Princess Diana was wonderful too. She had the most wonderful humour and it devastated me when she passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The franchise owner is also known for his recent appearances in the hit Channel 4 shows Come Dine with Me and First Dates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the restaurant\u2019s earlier days, Mr Malacrino and his staff appeared on other programmes such as The National Lottery and You Bet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For You Bet! he and his staff set out a banquet for 50 people in under four minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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