Good food and even a song at Da Vinci in Swindon
4:05pm Friday 8th July 2011 in Eating Out By Pauline Leighton
As classic Italian popular music wafts from the speakers of the smart, spacious restaurant the chances are that co-owner Santo Millaci will at any given moment burst heartily into song.
He’s no Mario Lanza, but Santo’s occasional and spirited crooning adds perfectly to the friendly atmosphere and relaxed ambience of Da Vinci, an Italian restaurant and bar in the heart of Swindon town centre.
Located in Fleet Street, an area which has been extensively redeveloped notably with bars and pubs since the 1990s, the building was previously Fletcher’s restaurant before undergoing a Mediterranean makeover last year.
It has been under new management for the past nine weeks, Santo having taken ownership with two other well-known Swindon-based Italian restaurateurs, Mario Fretti and Gianni Pau. Mario and Gianni run Fabio in Old Town, and that restaurant is celebrating its 21st anniversary.
Exuding a natural charm and enthusiasm, Santo enjoys nothing better than chatting with guests while also engaging in humorous banter with staff. Running Da Vinci is clearly a job he loves and excels at.
“I really look forward to coming in every morning. It’s a fantastic place to work and a really good location right in the middle of Swindon,” says Santo as the sun streams through one of the huge Da Vinci front windows on a glorious Monday evening.
“Meeting the guests is the great thing about being here. Having a chat, catching up with what they’ve been up to. A lot of them come to here to see me; I’ve known them for years. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t enjoy the social side of it all.”
A well known figure on Swindon’s Italian restaurant scene for more than three decades, Santo arrived in Wiltshire from his native Sicily, via a stint in Germany, in 1980.
He has worked for a string of restaurants in town including Mama’s Kitchen, Mario’s and Fabio in Old Town, has run his own restaurant in Lyneham and also, during a hiatus from Wiltshire, managed an eatery in Southport, which became a popular haunt for Liverpool and Everton footballers. Such evenings often ended up with Santo playing snooker with the likes of Bruce Grobbelaar.
The arrival of the new management team at the team at Da Vinci has coincided with the coming of another Latin management team in Swindon, that of fellow Italian Paulo Di Canio at the County Ground.
Quick on the ball, Da Vinci has now teamed up with fellow Italian restaurant Fabio to sponsor the Swindon Advertiser’s football reporter Gary Rose to cover the Town’s pre-season tour of Italy, enabling fans at home to get the latest news as it happens during the all-important build-up to the start of the season.
Upon entering the cool but cosy 70-seat exposed brick interior of Da Vinci, visitors are greeted with an enigmatic smile, that of the Mona Lisa, which hangs near the entrance (I’m pretty sure it’s only a copy though!) Da Vinci boasts “authentic Italian food at its very best” with a menu that offers “something for everyone – from seafood to meat dishes, pizzas, pastas and salads; all accompanied by a superb wine list.”
What you won’t find on the menu, however, is fish, which can only be found on the specials board. Santo is at pains to point out that they only serve fresh fish, so they don’t know what’s on the menu until it’s been caught, a day or two before.
Since arriving, the new management has introduced a popular Express Lunch Special Offer, for which customers pay £5.95, to enjoy “the great flavours of traditional Italian cuisine, from classics such as Spaghetti Bolognese to our renowned pizzas with your favourite topping.”
“We’re very busy at lunchtimes. The special offer is great value. The pizzas are really big,” says Santo, indicating with his hands the size of a really big pizza. – PAULINE LEIGHTON
