Pietro Gandolfo
Pietro Gandolfo was born on May 15, 1939 in Grammichele, Italy. He was raised during the occupancy and control of the Fascist Region of former President Mussolini in Italy. After Mussolini joined forces with the Nazi Occupation in Italy and Sicily, Pietro Gandolfo's father Luigi Gandolfo had to flee his country to fight with the resistant in the front lines of North Africa.
Pietro Gandolfo as a young child had to provide for his mother and two younger sisters by bartering with farmers for food and supplies to survive. When the American troops came to help the Sicilians Pietro Gandolfo was quick with his wit and resources to barter Sicilian home made wine for the American soldiers in exchange for their Vienna Sausages to take home to his family for food. The Sicilians were starving to death prior to the arrival of the American troops and living in caverns in the hills of Sicily.
When Pietro Gandolfo became 17 years old after World War II was over he became a professional cyclist and was able to win the Tour of Italy. This enabled him to acquire enough money to leave his hometown to move to Rapallo, Italy on the Italian Riviera. There he worked as a brick layer, the trade his Sicilian father taught him and he helped build the world renown Hotel Savoy on the Boardwalk on the coast of Rapallo, Italy.
When he returned to Sicily he met his first wife, Carmela who was an Italian American from Detroit, Michigan and got married and moved to the United States with her. His brick laying skills shortly became known in the suburbs of Detroit with building sidewalks and porches for residential homes. Within 9 years of coming to America at the age of 29 in 1958 he was able to progress in a career in the Construction Industry and become a General Contractor and became one of the top 40 Contractors in the United States. He help build a large segment of Interstate 696 and was featured four times on the cover of Michigan Contractor magazine. He later decided to change careers and open up a combination bowling alley, restaurant and nightclub in Clinton Township, Michigan in 1978 and called it La Notte and had celebrities like Grace Jones performing live.
His dream was to be a homeowner of the exclusive residential community of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He achieved this within 9 years of his success as an American and built a 10,000 square foot Mediterranean Mansion for his then second wife, Catherine. For health reasons for his wife and the desire to get away from frigid cold winters in Michigan he relocated his family to South Florida to Boca Raton.
Pietro Gandolfo scouted properties in South Florida to open another La Notte Restaurant and Nightclub. After scouting by way of boat on the Intracoastal Waterway he located a plot of land that had been ceased by the US Government by the former owner, the Gulfstream Marina in Boynton Beach. In an auction sale Pietro Gandolfo bid the highest and acquired the 4.5 acre land to build a 25,000 square feet two story complex with an outdoor pool and marina directly due west across from the Boynton Beach inlet. By 1980 his complex construction was completed and opened in May of 1980. It was the most successful entertainment complex's of the 1980's and continued a long run for over 20 years while the facility was still standing. La Notte featured the first bikini contest created by Pietro Gandolfo, with young women parading around the exterior pool for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place cash prices. Pietro Gandolfo also was the first restaurateur to do aerial advertising behind a single engine plane flying over the packed public beaches to lure sunbathers to come to La Notte for food, fun and more sun by the pool and of course participate by viewing the bikini contest.
Shooters Corporation shortly took over the operation of La Notte and called it Shooters on the Water and wanted to downplay the elegant features that La Notte offered with Italian marble flooring and exterior fountains by the pool in order to attract a more working mans atmosphere. Many lessee's had come and gone over a 20 year span with changing the name each time. In 2003 Pietro Gandolfo sold the property to one of the biggest housing developers in the United States, Centex Homes. They replaced the pre-existing structure with 51 town homes that still stand to this day. Chalicpaulmissing (talk) 23:31, 7 June 2018 (UTC) Pietro Gandolfo tried acting and modeling in 2007 and was featured in infomercials until 2014 when he was a featured extra on the Nike shoot in Miami featuring Lebron James. He is currently now assisting his third wife, Lisa with her Location Services with the film industry providing private homes for print and film shoots. His home is like an Italian Villa featuring many topiaries and greenery that brings him back to his childhood countryside of Italy. When not working out at the local gym his helps in maintaining his Italian garden. Some people have mistaken him to be the Italian Jack Lalane because of his excellent physique and good health.
References[edit]
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