In 1944 the “Osteria al Ferro di Cavallo” opened its doors right in the historical centre of Palermo.
I am Franco Ciminna, owner since 1980 of the “Trattoria al Ferro di Cavallo”, assisted by my sons Giuseppe and Valerio.
My father Giuseppe, known as Pinuzzo, started this business. But before starting it he used to work in a factory which made wooden crates.
These crates were filled with Sicily’s wonderful citrus fruits which were sent to the north of Italy.
Unfortunately, this kind of work hit a serious downturn due to the 2nd World War. Indeed, all the roads and railtracks which were used to transport the products from the south of Italy to the north were destroyed in the bombings between 1940-1944.
My father couldn’t bear the idea of being unemployed so he accepted a job as a waiter with weakly pay of a 1’000 lira and this was in 1944.
In the meantime, to make both ends meet, he started helping in the kitchen by cooking some of those days typical dishes: beans and celery, broad beans and vegetables, sardine meatballs. All these dishes are now the pride and glory of our catering but in those days they were the normal food that poor people ate as they couldn’t afford to eat meat which was much more expensive.
Poverty was everywhere in those post-war years.
Since then and up until now, with the help of my sons Giuseppe and Valerio we restaured and adapted the premises to our modern day hygienic and sanitary standards.
However, leaving its primary rustic touch but enriching the menu with many delicious typical and traditional dishes, such as boiled veal, meatballs in tomato sauce, etc.
