Ice cream Families
The Ice Cream trade provided a living for many Italian families from their poor and meagre lodgings they plied their trade. The hours were long, the rewards were few but it was a way of life to many Italian Immigrants.
Sheffield in the 1800's was home to quite a few theatres and music halls, this provided a good place for the vendors to sell their wares.
Through the years they progressed from pushing wooden barrows to aquiring horse drawn carts and later motorised vans.
In the 1800's the ice cream street vendors were often referred to as the "Hokey Pokey" men. They are many thoughts as to where this name came from, the most plausable seem to be that it was derived from the vendors themselves. To attract people attention they would shout "Ecco un Poco" (Italian for here is a little) we assume this referred to the price and not the quantity or the quality.
There are still quite a few Ice Cream Companies in Sheffield that evolved from the humble dwellings in West Bar, passed through the generations, their names became famous as their ices.
Cuneo's established in 1864 is the oldest Ice Cream Company in the Yorkshire & Derbyshire area.
Luigge (Louis) Cuneo the founder of the Company was an Italian immigrant that came to England with his brother in search of a better life.
Luigge (Louis) and his family were one of the early Italian families in the area and they were to leave a lasting impression on the community as a whole.
Luigge Cuneo over the years was a wheelwright, a barrel organ tuner and no doubt he had started out as a street musician/organ grinder in his early days in Sheffield. All this was to change when he decided to sell Ice Cream.
So was born Cuneo's Ices.
Through the years the ways of plying their trade has changed but the Company has soldered on. The changes to the way ice cream was made due to modern machinery and time/labour saving devices. In the late 18 and early 1900 as the business grew the Cunoe family would employ other Italian immigrants and their families to help with the making and selling of the ice cream. It is possible that they may have used the 'padrone system' to get employees.
In the early days the ice cream would be transported and sold from wooden handcarts, as time went by and business grew the transportation progressed to horse/pony drawn carts and later to motorised vehicles.
The Cuneo family had a shop in Devonshire street, it was owned by the family for over hundred years, known as the Ice Cream Saloon, it was the first place in Sheffield to house an American Soda Fountain. It was commonplace for dominos and cards to be played in the back of the shop, usually this would be for shop checkers (not money). The checkers could only be spent in the shop, but not exchanged for cash thus ensuring the business benefited from these games. Slot machines were also brought in to amuse the customers but all this came to an end when the new gaming laws were brought out and gaming regulations set in place.
The shop window was usually filled with boiled sweets pear drops etc, (these were also made by the family).
For a long time there was only one family in the area that made and sold cones/cornets, the Buffaloro Family.
The Buffaloro Family (again an Italian immigrant family) supplied all the local ice cream sellers for quite a few years. It was usual to see the cone/cornets being made when collecting orders.
Ice Cream wasn't the only business Cuneo's had they ran a public house and also a boarding house. we are told (if stories are true) that the metal hooks were fitted in the floor in the cellars to tether the 'dancing bears' that were brought over to England with various visiting bands.
Dennis Cuneo still runs the family business. Born in Copper Street the grandson of Luigge Cuneo was the only child from his fathers second marriage. From humble beginnings grew a lasting business that would leave it's mark on the area for a long time to come.
The Italian Ice Cream Vendors
Anginotti, Buffalero Brothers, joseph and Clara Canetti, Jess Carolis, Di Carlo, Antonio & Anne Cassinelli, Fantozzi, Alfonso Franchitti, Augustino Frachitti, Giacmantonio Franchitti, Grannelli Brothers, Slavis, Peter Angelina Grannelli, Antonio, Maria Grannelli, Angelo & Joseph Manfredi, Mathew Manfredi, Dominico & Venceza Marzella, Dominico, Maria & Philomena Marzella, Lewis Massarella, Pietro & Paolo Micceli, Antonio, Antonia & Angelo Molinari, Nocei, Dominico Paggiossi, Francesco Reale, Oreste Reale, Dominico Rebori, Sanella, Giovanni Starbori.
