Cafe Aglio E Olio reopens in Parkes despite two fires

They've had to rebuild their business not once but twice after fires damaged the buildings that housed their cafe-restaurant Cafe Aglio E Olio, while floods also delayed them from moving on.

"It's no good to look back, it doesn't help anybody," Vittorio said.

Cafe Aglio E Olio was originally located next door to Spotlight in Forbes on the Newell Highway/Parkes Road before a fire ignited inside the retail store in March 2022.

While their home of six and a half years only suffered smoke damage, because it was part of the same building as Spotlight which had been significantly damaged, the whole structure had to come down.

The couple were suddenly without a home for their business. They found a few potential new locations in Forbes, including the possibility of returning to their original site, but they were not to be.

"The floods came then that stopped everything," Cathy said.

"We waited but we couldn't wait any longer, our funds were running out."

So Cathy and Vittorio turned to Parkes and found an ideal premises in the former Bent restaurant and cafe on the corner of Court and Currajong streets.

They worked with its owner to get themselves set up but in the early hours of July 19 this year another fire gutted the building.

They were 10 days out from opening.

"We thought it was a joke... We were both overwhelmed," Cathy said.

"We lost everything."

Everything that is except their new woodfired pizza oven that had just been delivered from Italy. Fortunately it was sitting in the garden and sustained no damage.

"I haven't even used it yet," Vittorio said.

Luckily Cathy and Vittorio's landlord had a "plan b" location for the new Italian restaurant/cafe and offered them the former Parkes Hotel.

Three months later and with a fresh new look that has caught the eye of the community, they had a soft opening with close friends on October 18 and are now open and operating.

"We started with whatever we had," Cathy said.

"We still had some of our own tables... It took two months to get set up again.

"It's going great.

"What a journey! [We feel] better now!

"We'd like to say thank you to all of our patrons, they've been very supportive.

"The messages on Facebook were amazing, after [the fire] happened people from Forbes have been coming over."

Cathy and Vittorio are originally from Dundas near Parramatta. They used to live in Forbes in 1984 but after two years moved back to Sydney to be closer to family.

When Vittorio semi-retired they decided to come back to Forbes for a new adventure, plus their son and daughter were living here too. Then came the opportunity to open a restaurant-cafe.

They used to have a cafe in Sydney at one stage.

Cathy has always worked in kitchens, ever since she was 14 as a kitchen hand. She's now a cook and the cook for Cafe Aglio E Olio.

"We wanted something small but then the business grew and grew, we were so busy," she laughed.

The restaurant is BYO beer and wine at the moment, with Cathy and Vittorio hoping to obtain a liquor licence eventually.

Their large woodfired pizza oven is also not yet installed - it had only been transported over from Court Street on November 7, the same day demolition work began on the fire-damaged premises. So they're not able to serve their pizza menu just yet.

They're open six nights a week (except Tuesday) and three lunches - Thursday, Friday and Saturday.