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Sisto Malaspina was the kind of guy who might have leaned across the bar to help a customer come to terms with a tragedy like this.
With a tea-towel draped over his shoulder, he could have offered a short black and the comforting advice that could help anybody struggling to make heads or tails of it.
It was service customers had come to expect.
CITY HONOURS LIFE OF MELBOURNE ICON SISTO
‘I CANNOT FATHOM A MELBOURNE WITHOUT SISTO’
Hollywood A-listers and football stars were among regulars to pull up a pew at the Bourke St cafe.
He had framed pictures of the likes of Sigrid Thornton and Russell Crowe on the shelves inside Pellegrini’s as if to prove the appeal.
But there was no need, especially today.
Hundreds of strangers stood outside the restaurant in search of the man who helped define Melbourne’s cafe culture.
He was not there, of course.
Sisto, the immigrant Italian who carved out a life of contribution, died at the hand of another who was caught in a spiral of ugly ideology.
Their paths crossed last Friday and Sisto’s life ended on a bloody footpath, less than 100m from the cafe he loved.
A man with an accordion summoned a tune today in a bid to make sense of it. He sang Bella Ciao, a song of wartime resistance that seemed fitting in this city where residents now think twice.
Those who knew Sisto best tried to sum it up in words posted next to the shop he had nurtured from the 1970s.
EVERYBODY KNEW SISTO, AND HE KNEW EVERYBODY
The author of a note promising to pbad on all messages and flowers to the family may not have expected this level of response.
By 5pm the bouquets stretched around the corner onto Crossley St. The stories and anecdotes stretched much further.
There was talk of Sisto’s incessant banter about Essendon.
And his insistence, to anybody asking, that a great pasta sauce starts with good tomatoes. Memorial books on a table offered yet more tales.
Some confessed to having never known him but wished they had. Others simply said sorry to the man whose hospitality had ushered thousands to the Paris end of the city.
“There’s a hole in Melbourne’s heart now that you’re gone,” said one.
Kitchen worker Lucia told the Herald Sun she had worked with Sisto for 18 years.
“He was my big brother, he wasn’t my boss,” she said.
“I would tell him everything. Those years were the best years of my life. We joked.
“He was a marvellous man.”
WHOPPING DONATIONS MOUNT FOR HERO TROLLEY MAN
MP PRAISES BOURKE ST HEROES
President of the Vespa Club Melbourne Julie Pond said around 40 members cancelled their usual monthly meet in order to do a commemorative ride to Pellegrini’s.
“Sisto has touched everyone’s heart,” she said. “Every time they parked their Vespas here, Sisto came out.”
Major Brendan Nottle from the Salvation Army revealed he was a regular customer.
“Everyone was welcome, it didn’t matter who you were,” he said. “Sisto made you feel really special.”
Mr Malaspina’s family is considering the offer of a state funeral.
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