The first time I ate at Ciao’s I was hooked.
We were in the main railway station in Rome and against my better judgement Tina suggested we go there to eat.
Now fast food in a railway station even the stylish Termini I thought would be a disaster.
But not so. There was a range of fresh food most of it cooked as you watched and a shedful of fruit and salads and heaps of good bread.
Moreover it was cheap and as a result the place was full.
And so when we got back to Varese I adopted the local Ciao’s.
Whenever we were in the town centre I contrived to call in and then without warning it had gone.
We had last eaten there in the April of 2013 and when we went back near the end of the year it had gone.
I found a newspaper account of their sudden closure which was as much a surprise to the employees as to us.*
And now the place is empty along with another at the airport and I suspect the one at the Termini which is why I asked Peter to paint the old Varese restaurant from a picture I took in 2012, after all if I can’t eat there I can at least have a permanent reminder of the place.
*Addio a Ciao e Spizzico, di Redazione Varese News 30 maggio 2013 http://www.varesenews.it/2013/05/addio-a-ciao-e-spizzico/58961/
Painting; Ciao, Varese © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by Andrew Simpson 2012
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures, https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
Now fast food in a railway station even the stylish Termini I thought would be a disaster.
But not so. There was a range of fresh food most of it cooked as you watched and a shedful of fruit and salads and heaps of good bread.
Moreover it was cheap and as a result the place was full.
And so when we got back to Varese I adopted the local Ciao’s.
Whenever we were in the town centre I contrived to call in and then without warning it had gone.
We had last eaten there in the April of 2013 and when we went back near the end of the year it had gone.
I found a newspaper account of their sudden closure which was as much a surprise to the employees as to us.*
And now the place is empty along with another at the airport and I suspect the one at the Termini which is why I asked Peter to paint the old Varese restaurant from a picture I took in 2012, after all if I can’t eat there I can at least have a permanent reminder of the place.
*Addio a Ciao e Spizzico, di Redazione Varese News 30 maggio 2013 http://www.varesenews.it/2013/05/addio-a-ciao-e-spizzico/58961/
Painting; Ciao, Varese © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph by Andrew Simpson 2012
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures, https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
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