The lower part of the building in Blairgowrie’s Wellmeadow had been bought by Serafino Fortunato (Frank) Visocchi in 1905, where he opened a cafe. During the 1920s, he acquired the upstairs of the building in Leslie Street. He imported Italian terazzo for the exterior of the new business, built wooden booth style seating for the front of the cafe, and in 1930 built the domed roof with its six pillars in the rear. The Dome is now a B class listed building.
Serafino’s son, Fortunato, who had served in the shop from 1914 at the age of 12, took over the business with his wife, Iolanda in the early 1950s.
When he retired in 1971, Fortune had worked in the Dome for 57 years, but his three children chose not to follow in their parents’ footsteps.
The restaurant was sold to Fortune’s nephew, Henry (Harry) Quinn.
Initially, he leased it out to a group of young man who painted the wooden booths and central gantry red and the dome and dome windows black – and then one night simply disappeared
In the early 1990s, Harry Quinn signed a twenty one year lease to a Mr & Mrs Peter Chisholm. After a short period the Chisholms decided to divest themselves of the business.
In 1995 it was acquired by the present owner, Stuart Wishart.