The Castelvecchi family

The story of the Castelvecchi chip shop dates back four generations: a story played out between Italy and the UK, rooted in the most iconic British meal of all, fish and chips.

Perhaps not everyone knows that fish and chips has Italian origins: it was invented by Giuseppe Cervi, an Italian migrant who “accidentally” landed in Dublin in 1880 and realised the potential of a dish that was so simple yet so popular with the working classes. As the years have gone by, fried fish has lost some of its charm but something still remains: just stand in the middle of Glasgow Cross, one of Glasgow’s oldest crossroads. Next to the rich and elegant shopping street we find what was once Merchant City, the old Italian neighbourhood and here there are some traditional chip shops, run by the Italians of Scotland.

Castelvecchi is very unlike other chip shops: old Formica furnishings, the smell of fried food, coffee, and a few Italian flags here and there. A place that feels like home.

Alfredo Castelvecchi arrived in Paisley in 1914 and opened his shop there. An Italian girl, who would soon become his wife, helped him run it. He was Italian, and when the Second World War broke out he was immediately branded an “enemy alien” and imprisoned on the Isle of Man.

In Barrhead, not far from Paisley, Giovanni Nutini also worked in his father Elia's chip shop. He had British citizenship, but he too fell victim to the anti-Italian hostilities that spread when war broke out. Elia sent his son Giovanni to help Alfredo's daughter at the Castelvecchi chip shop. The pair fell in love.

The story of the Nutini family continued and the shop was run by Giovanni’s son Alfredo. Giovanni, having lost his wife, spent much of time with his grandson Paolo. And he taught Paolo to play the piano from a very young age. They would sing Italian songs together and his grandfather, who recognised that the child was extremely talented, taught him everything he knew, even how to close his eyes while singing in concert, something which he gets directly from his grandfather.

Success fell into Paolo's lap quite by chance, so much so that his grandfather Giovanni never got to see him on stage. At the age of sixteen he used to help out in the family chip shop, and while studying, he wrote music and recorded some stuff. One day, he left the Castelvecchi chip shop to go to a gig by David Sneddon. Sneddon was late, so Paolo had to play. He improvised something, a song by Elton John, and the audience loved him, as did a manager from Mercury Records.