The start of our business was Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar where our Grandmother Lucia Rosella served the first pizza was served in Adelaide in 1957. It continues today as an iconic Adelaide establishment run by Lucia’s daughters, our mother Nicci Bugeja and aunt Maria Rosella.

From Italy to Adelaide
Born in the 1920s in Paese of Pago Veiano, Benevento inland from Naples Lucia and Pasquale grew up on tobacco and fruit and vegetable farms. Lucia learned traditional cooking from her mother to later pass them on to her children and grandchildren.
Their journey to Australia started when Pasquale was taken a prisoner of war and sent to a camp near Shepparton in Victoria where he worked on a farm. Returning to Italy determined to return to Australia, in 1945 Pasquale fell in love with Lucia and they married in 1948. Niccolina (Nicci) was born in 1950 and, Pasquale left for Australia leaving Lucia pregnant with their second child, Maria who was born in 1954. Pasquale was finally able to bring his family to Adelaide in 1956.

From 1957 until now
Lucia enchanted her neighbours with her cooking and pizzas and with the encouragement of her neighbour Dayna Hill set up shop with just seven stools in a tiny space on the Western Roadway of the old Central Markets. Pasquale and his brothers opened a food and entertainment hub on the esplanade in Henley Beach called La Bella Napoli. It became a meeting point for migrants but La Bella Napoli was sacrificed to concentrate on the rapid growth of the pizza bar. Pasquale took over Dayna’s position winning over the customers with his charm and good looks and Lucia loved being in the kitchen.
Her true generosity magically introduced thousands of South Australians to Southern Italian cuisine and she was delighted, when, after trying alternative career paths Nicci and Maria discovered they didn’t want to be anywhere else. Nicci married John Bugeja in 1971 and shortly afterwards bought his own fruit stand Stall 69. Pasquale passed away in 1995 at the age of 75.
Maria continues to make the pizza exactly as Lucia showed her and the menu is still true to its origin with Lucia’s famous pizzas as a staple on the menu. Spaghetti Napoletana is still made with Lucia’s very own homemade pasta sauce Lucia produced by the entire family each summer. Lucia and her family made roughly 5000 bottles of Passata each year for the pizza bar. In 1999 Simon, while running his own fruit and vegetable stall RIPE made the decision to commercially bottle and sell Lucia’s pasta sauce. Today we manufacture a range of take–home products with the same love and care that faithfully follow our grandmother’s recipes.

A legend that continues to this day
The death of Lucia in 2002 marked the end of the old era and the beginning of the next. Shortly afterwards the shop next door to the pizza bar went up for sale. Nicci and John’s children Lee, Simon and Emma bought the shop and started their own little dynasty – Lucia’s Fine Foods and Lucia’s Own products.
Serving people honest, delicious, simple Italian food for 50 years has created a demand for Lucia’s food. Memories of Lucia continue to inspire Lee, Simon and Emma, who share her love of cooking and warm hospitality. The wonderful cooking of Lucia Rosella has spanned generations and today their customers are the grandchildren of their first customers. Lucia’s Fine Foods and Lucia’s Own products continue the tradition that started it all. Quality seasonal ingredients cooked by traditional methods to the same standards set so many years ago by their grandmother Lucia Rosella.

It is food made with love!