Rita Visocchi, who ran Visocchi’s iconic ice-cream and fish and chip shops in Kirriemuir with her husband Michele for almost 40 years, has died aged 94.
Rita passed away in her flat above the town’s ice-cream shop in the High Street on Sunday.
Rita’s son, Jon, said his mum slipped away peacefully with her family at her bedside.
Dundee connection
Rita was born in Pontone in Italy in 1929. Her parents Filippo Forte and Rosa Esposita lived in Dundee but had moved back to Italy for a few years due to her mum’s TB.
The family moved back to Dundee in 1933 where they ran cafes and ice-cream shops – they were the original owners of Fortes Cafe in Dura Street in Stobswell.
The shop retains their name today. Rita spent most of her childhood in Stobswell.
She first met the Kirriemuir Visocchis when her family relocated to Pitlochry when all their menfolk, because they were Italian, were interned during the Second World War
In 1950, Rita married Michele Visocchi and she moved to Kirriemuir with her new husband and his family.
She began working in the Visocchi family’s ice-cream shop and café in the High Street. The business began in Kirriemuir in 1932.
She also worked in the fish and chip shop just across the road.
When the family opened a new shop in the Southmuir area of the town Rita also worked there.
Rita was ‘kind, loving and knowing’
Jon said his mum worked in the family business until she retired in 1988.
Rita and Michele had six children: Marta, Angela, Michelle, Jon, Tonia and Anita.
She is also survived by seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Jon said she kept good health but sadly suffered from a degree of dementia in recent years.
He said: “Mum was a funny, kind, loving, intuitive and knowing person. She was always at the heart of things and never far from The Square.
“She always had a dazzling smile and kind word for everyone.
“She was a fun-loving, caring Mum with a wicked sense of humour.”
He recalled that she was well-known for her looks, saying: “We have been told by a local that many a laddie popped into Visocchi’s to buy five Woodbines or a packet of chewing gum when all they wanted was to come and look at Ma.”
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