Adolfo Lucchesi was born in 1890 in Cardoso, Lucca, Tuscany.
Adolpho arrived in Darvel in 1904, to join his brother selling ice cream from a hand cart in the streets around the Irvine Valley.
He returned to Italy in 1911 to fight for his country in the Italo-Turkish War, and returned in 1919 with his new wife, Eufemia Biagioni (his childhood sweetheart from nearby Campi.
In that year his brother Desiderio established the Principal Cafe at 3 Brewland Street, Galston. Adolpho and Euphemia set up a fish and chip shop at the already established Queen Mary Cafe.
Sadly, Desiderio passed away in 1925, after which Adolfo bought the Brewland Street business.
In 1949 Adolfo commisioned the bulilding of an ice cream factory at Titchfield Street, and sold it from a nearby kiosk. Vanilla Joe’s
Albano, a son of Adolfo and Eufemia, ran the Principal Cafe.
Albano’s daughter Iva and husband William Mair continued the business which today is run my Liam Lucchesi Mair. Liam is the great grandson of Adolpho.
The establishment has been through several incarnations, and two fires, but is now in pristine condition after a refurbishment helped by a Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) grant from East Ayrshire Council and Historic Environment Scotland. This has enabled major renovations to be carried out on the historic building’s roof, exterior and stonemasonry, making it fit for the 21st century.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/15825545.Family_chippy_is_ready_to_notch_up_a_century/
http://www.my-east-ayrshire.co.uk/kb5/eastayrshire/cd/article.page?id=LC2vAKWfufs