Piccolo Eatery - The Journey From Sicily To Lititz

By Lindsey McIntosh

There is an interwoven history to the ingredients that make up a favorite meal. As we reflect on our journey, we often look to the timeline that has guided us through the impossible and helped set us on a pathway to gratitude, perseverance, and serenity. Chef Nino Elia and his daughter, Chef Sara Elia, utilize their history, passion, and ever-growing knowledge to bring authenticity and delicious food to the Lititz community.  

Strawberry Season

It started with a single comment – the one that ignites a desire to try, to push the narrative one step further into the unknown.

Chef Nino Elia immigrated from Sicily in 1972 with his parents, two brothers, and sister. His family settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where Nino began cultivating a desire to cook, taking the lessons he learned as a child from his grandmother, his nonna, and placing the pieces into a pathway that he would follow.

“I love being around people.” Nino’s spirit is infectious, warm, and eager. That energy led him to a small and close-knit town in the heart of Lancaster County, a place he would one day call home, Lititz, Pennsylvania.

To Nino, it was the vibe that made Lititz memorable. When someone said to talk with Sharon Landis over at Zest! you should teach classes – Nino did not blink an eye. Zest! had started teaching cooking classes out of its brick-and-mortar shop and Nino, armed with the knowledge of food and the desire to teach others, walked over, introduced himself, and said, “I think I would like to try this out.”

The rest was history.

“It was strawberry season,” Nino knew he wanted to prepare a strawberry granita for one of his first classes, utilizing the in-season crops that flooded the local farmer’s market. Using what is in season came with Nino and his family from Sicily, where outdoor markets showcase what is available for the time of year. In the United States, our grocery stores are packed with produce from around the world, allowing tomatoes, strawberries, and avocados to be available year-round.

When Nino wanted to teach his first date night at Zest! the act of buying from what was available came into play quickly and caused only a slight panic. When Sharon reached out about the menu for the event at the beginning of the week, Nino said, “I don’t know what it is.”

She said, “You don’t know?”

“No,” he said, “I’m going to go to Green Dragon [a local farmer’s market] to see what they have and plan the menu from there.”

What would have typically been a horrifying moment for Sharon, a business owner, was rather natural when it came to Nino and his flow. He had already built a following, people knew his name, and they appreciated his food, so the lack of a menu – even on the week of the event, did not worry Sharon, “I trust you,” she said, “you know what you’re doing.”

Nino’s influence at Zest! was a success, as he helped construct the class structure for the cooking school and then made his way into the small business world, leading him to the front doors of Piccolo Eatery.

“I don’t like steps,” Nino wanted a storefront with zero difficulty. So, after a few attempts, he eventually found the spot and thought little of it, “When I first walked into the shop, I thought it was a knick-knack shop.” The size was small and quaint – still, he struggled to find the name.  

“I knew I didn’t want a name with café in the title.” Serving coffee or espresso was not on the menu. You have to have all of the necessary alternatives and additives on hand, which for the size of the shop, would have created another hassle. All he wanted to do was start cooking, to start showcasing the beauty of Sicilian food. Then it appeared so clearly in his mind: the little, small, quaint shop with no steps – piccolo. Piccolo Eatery.

Women are the Necks

Chef Sara Elia, the daughter of Chef Nino, joined her father at Piccolo two years after the shop opened. She had grown up in her family’s pizza shop, constantly learning from the women around her who would demonstrate their passion for culture through the cooking process, and she loved it. However, as a first-generation American, it was important to Sara that she study, go to school, and journey into something unrelated to the world of food. She wanted to show that she could make her mark on the world, and she did, working as a nurse for thirteen years.

“I was born with the gene. The business gene. The cooking gene. The passion. The inspiration all came from our culture.” This mindset eventually pulled her out of medicine and back into the family business. However, Sara did not take a light step into the shop, no, she established her story, expanding and opening a Sicilian/Italian market in the front of the shop and pushing the eatery into the back.

“The inspiration was just being proud of our culture,” the market has a strong relationship with the female presence, and that is intentional, “In our culture, the men are the heads, the women are the necks.” Sicilian folklore centers around women, around their stories of revenge and heartbreak. It acts as a way to showcase the power and control women have in their households and everyday lives.

Sara's favorite tale is the Testa di Moro. It takes place in Palermo, where a young woman while sitting on her balcony – seen as a haven for women, a chance for them to escape the dominance of male control – spots a man on the street below and falls into a state of pure adoration and love. The man felt the same way, and the two quickly moved into a dance of desire. One day she overheard that her partner was leaving, setting back on a journey home – to his wife and child. “Sicilian women get their revenge very slowly,” Sara explained, so the woman waited. She waited until her partner fell asleep, then proceeded to decapitate him, take his severed head onto her balcony, her haven, and use the head as a pot for her basil. Every day, she would cry into the leaves, and they would grow.

“The story ties together the passion, power, and love of a Sicilian woman,” Sara brought the story to life, decorating the storefront window with Moor heads, a nod to the folktale, and a depiction of Sicilian history and its prolific conquerors over time. Throughout history, nations conquered the island and left their mark, forever shaping the landscape and culture of Sicilian heritage. Even today, it is seen, especially in the manner of dialect. Sicily is a melting pot society, demonstrating how history was sculpted throughout time. 

Inside the market, everything is Italian. “When we first opened, we weren’t really sure what we wanted to offer,” Nino interjected and chuckled, “we knew we wanted to offer pasta,” Sara agreed and stated that was his one contribution – Nino could have his pasta. Everything else was handpicked by Sara and imported from Italy and Sicily. She wanted it to feel homey, like walking into your grandmother's kitchen and asking yourself, what is she going to have? 

For Nino and Sara, family is everywhere, intertwined, and seen clearly throughout Piccolo Eatery.

Cooking is Love, Right?

Nino pointed out a photograph hanging on the wall in the eatery, and Sara explained the history, “That’s a photo of my grandparents, my dad, my aunt, and my two uncles. My grandmother is my age in that.” Sara has always looked up to the women in her life. As a child, she explained that she only had a few years with her great-grandmother before her passing, but she was the one who set Sara on a path of knowledge, a craving to know where she came from and to follow the women who could continue to teach her important life lessons. It is unique to her upbringing, something that is intangible, unbreakable.

“In a lot of cultures in the world, family is everything, but for us Sicilians, no matter what can possibly happen, at the end of the day, we’re still family. We laugh. We cry. My dad has a tear in his eye now because we are loving and passionate people.” The connection between Nino and Sara is spoken through laughter – they are each other’s apprentices, learning from one another, and growing together. They counteract the naturally occurring stress and worry by consistently working on new ways to bring Piccolo to its next chapter.

The first chapter, opening. Second chapter, Italian market. What would the next one be? Well, Nino had already thought of it – Date and Demo Nights.

While teaching at Zest Cooking School, Nino had already successfully operated date nights, inviting adventurous and zealous customers to eat and learn about the ingredients, regional focus, and history of the meal:

Each event focuses on a particular region of Italy, and that's the culinary adventure we travel to that evening. Starting with antipasto, you are met with a delicious plate of appetizers from that region and while you dine Chef will explain the ingredients, preparation and history of the plate in front of you. Moving onto primo, secondo, intermezzo, and dolce. While each course is being served, the history and preparation of that dish will be explained, and questions are always welcome! 

In preparation for the date nights, again it begins with the question of what is in season. Each dinner is catered to the corresponding time of year, making each event unique and one-of-a-kind. They also check allergies, as they can accommodate anything, so much so, that they added vegan date nights to their schedule, “Most Sicilian dishes already do not use butter or cheese. Butter is modernized, but we use it only sometimes in baking, our usual fat is extra virgin olive oil. We put it in our cakes, use it on our skin, we use it in every aspect.”

Although there is a misconception about Sicilian cuisine, “When people think about Italian cuisine they only think about lasagna, spaghetti, pizza – but Sicilian food is different, it’s seasonal. Our inspiration is the earth, the soil. I tell people it's like going to New York and wanting to get Texas BBQ, it's going to be so different because there are specialties to a region, and that’s Sicily.”

The demo nights are a way for attendees to work alongside Nino and Sara to make a dish that reflects the region, “We love teaching people about our history, our cuisine, our culture.”

“Cooking is love, right?” Nino asked with a reverberating chuckle. For everyone at Piccolo, it’s true, cooking is love in all manners of the word. It sneaks itself into the fibers of the dish, the company, and the experience. Everything is authentic, not fusion – this was important for Sara, as she wanted to portray Sicilian food's true nature.

Sara teaches a lot of pasta classes, and that notion of authenticity is well-represented within its class structure. She does not use any electric tools, “It goes back to my grandmother, great-grandmother, and all the women in my family tree because that’s how they did it, and that’s how I learned. Knives and cutlery, sure, but nothing electric.” Sara noted that not everyone has access to those tools, since learning should be accessible to anyone, keeping the cycle of education moving, allowing for conversations to flow, and keeping the notion of community connection alive to create a melting pot of cultures, similar to Sicilian society.

The Borough and The Festival

“Lititz is the first place where I can, as someone not from here, confidently say that I am part of this community.”

For Piccolo, community support is everything. Keeping the business in town is essential for maintaining a place that thrives from its varying possibilities of eats, shopping, and entertainment. “If I want a pizza, I’m going to go to Lititz Pizza Co, or Caruso’s, or Nino’s, or Roma. If I want sushi, I’m going to Mojo. If I have a party coming up and I need a gift, I’m going to Aaron’s or Atlas. I live, work, and support the borough,” Sara shared.

Nino stated, “If you want your community to grow, buy what your community grows.” This sentiment echoes throughout the sidewalks of Main Street. Every business owner understands and values the need to support each other. As new establishments continue to make their mark in the borough, the response from the locals is of joy and encouragement – because everyone knows that Lititz is special, but the business owners are truly the ones keeping the heartbeat of the town alive.

“So, you asked what do we bring? Well, how about an Italian Festival?” Nino shared that it all started over a cup of espresso.

The Italia Festival at Lititz Springs Park was supposed to be anything but a major event. Originally the plan was a small, intimate picnic – a chance for the Italians in the area to gather and celebrate their cultural roots. Except it grew and grew and grew.

Nino has a lot of friends, as it’s said, and his online presence added to the overall support for the event. It was going to be maybe 50 people, but by the end, it grew to 5,000 attendees. For a first-year festival, it is safe to say that it was a major success.

So, what should people anticipate for this year’s Italia Festival? “We’ve maxed out our capacity, I’m proud to say. We’ll have eighteen Italian food vendors, twenty crafters, and a lot of returning favorites.”

The festival will always take place in Lititz Springs Park, on the third Saturday in September, and there will never be an admission fee. It’s important to Nino and Sara that Italian culture be accessible to all; they are not alone in that mindset. The festival is supported by the Keystone Italian Project, a non-profit group that came together in celebration and admiration for Italian history and culture, and a desire to nourish any curiosity for those in the local region.

For Nino and Sara, having the chance to share their culture with everyone wanting to learn, whether they walk through the front door of Piccolo Eatery or attend the annual Italia Festival, they’re seen as family. It provides a chance to reflect on their journey, their endless search to learn from others, and seek out the gratitude that comes with it. Authenticity, history, and passion make Piccolo Eatery a vital part of the ever-growing cultural identity of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

The Italia Festival will take place on Saturday, September 16th, 10 am – 6 pm. While you’re in town and shopping locally, stop by Lititz’s very own independent bookshop, Aaron’s Books, to purchase a copy of Food is Love by Jennifer Oehme Knepper.