Little Italy in Joburg?

The Inside Joburg guidebook says there is a Little Italy in Joburg in a suburb called Orange Grove. Hmmm. Skeptical but we checked it out anyway ...

More accurately, Orange Grove was informally and fondly known as Little Italy during the 60's, 70's and 80's because the majority of residents at the time were Italians. Workers from a dynamite factory, many of the original residents had immigrated from Avigliana near Turin, Italy in the 1890's to work in the Modderfontein explosives factory in Joburg. A little more spread out compared to Little Italy's in other cities, Joburg's LI referred primarily to Ocean Grove which was the closest suburb to the factory, and parts of Yeoville and Jeppe.

The city's Italian population grew after the Second World War when many of the prisoners of war interred in the Allied Forces' largest POW camp near Cullinan chose to remain in South Africa after 1945. Post-war immigration continued in the 1950's and 1960's and up sprung an Italian-language community newspaper, La Voce, and a social club in Bedfordview.

Unfortunately pretty much all that is left of Joburg's Little Italy in Orange Grove is the Italian Food Center and deli, Super Sconto. Well worth the drive, Super Sconto is situated on Louis Botha Avenue in what was the Standard Bank building years ago. Two stories high and kind of like a mini-Eataly, here was the place I had been looking for to get my green, fruity olive oils, salty capers, Roman-style oil-cured artichokes, and huge cans of San Marzano tomatoes!











I stocked up on pasta in all my favorite shapes as well as bottled passata, fresh anchovies and plump black olives. And I do not need to pre-order my hot Italian Sausage there like I do at the Bryanston Organic Market.

The best Italian restaurants moved out of Orange Grove to tonier neighborhoods along with the Italians. We tried one of the guide book's recommended restaurants, Tortellino D'Oro in nearby Oaklands, and it was excellent. You get a complimentary glass of prosecco when you enter as well as a plate of canapes. And the gelati is house-made on the premises. Yum. If you need even more proof of the restaurant's Italian gravitas, when you go on their website, you have a choice of reading in Italian or English!

Buon appetito, Joburg!