Domenico Rizza and his brother Giuseppe (James) Rizza  left the small village of Belmonte Castello, near Monte Cassino in the south of Italy during 1907. Domenico,  was only 17, and  ten years older than Giuseppe.

In 1914 the brothers opened  a confectionery shop in Mid Street, Keith. This however was  disrupted by the First World War. In 1919 James opened a confectionery and ice cream shop in Aberdeen, and in the late 1920’s Domenico opened his own confectionery shop in Huntly.

Around this time James moved to the seaside resort of Banff. Here he installed one of the first soda fountains in the north of Scotland. Sadly, fire devastated this shop and James, his wife Emily and the three children Carlo, Maria (Mary) and George, joined Domenico in the Huntly business.

Dom, who remained a bachelor all his days, and therefore more mobile,  supported his brother by moving out of Huntly, eventually taking over the Clifton Road shop in Lossiemouth.  The premises had been converted from a butcher’s shop into a café by Luigi Zaccharini.

Dom soon became one of Lossie’s favourite characters, dispensing with a quiet smile excellent ice cream in summer and hot drinks in winter. To this day the Lossie Shop still bears the Rizza name.

Source: Rizza’s of Huntly