In the Beginning

Pietro and Luisa Rossi moved from Consett, County Durham to Southend in 1932 to start an Ice Cream business with a local family, also called Rossi. They started trading at 1 Marine Parade Southend, 37 High Street Southend and Western Esplanade.

The partnership was dissolved in 1937 and Pietro Rossi kept 1 Marine Parade and Rossi’s Western Esplanade and a small kiosk along Westcliff Seafront, known as the Arches. Their daughters , Gemma and Maria helped in the business whilst their youngest daughter Lolanda and onle son Tony attended the Sacred Heart School, Southchurch. Lolanda then attended St. Bernards Shcool until the outbreak of war and Tony was sent to a boarding school in Italy.

The War Years

The family manufactured Ice Cream from 1 Marine Parade Southend until 1939 at which time they had to vacate their premises as the seafront area was closed for military purposes.

Luisa and her two youngest children spent the war years in Italy, whilst Pietro and Maria remained in England, Gemma having married in 1937 to an ice cream businessman in Portsmouth. Pietro Rossi was interned as an alien on the Isle of Wight and Maria worked as a waitress to support her father.

Flourishing 50s and Successful 60s

The end of the war saw the familiy re-united in 1946 after 7 years apart and they resumed their business interests in Southend, selling ice cream from Marine Parade and their two sites along Western Esplanade. The 1950s and 1960s saw their business flourish. To cope with the demand, they built an Ice Cream Factory in Lucy Road, Southend in 1967.

Luisa Rossi died in 1957 and Pietro Rossi died in 1968, their children having taken over the reins some years earlier. Rossi’s Ice Cream had now become a favourite with locals and visitors. Their Western Esplanade premises was a local landmark and attracted thousands of visitors every year. In 1969 they aquired a kiosk at the top end of Southend High Street, this proved to be a very busy site in the summer months and demand was alwasys high for their traditional vanilla ice cream served from stainless barrels using the ‘spoon’ to dish up the ice cream on the cone. Maria Rossi, by then Maria Fantanzzi was invited onto The Generation Game in 1983 to demonstrate this method of serving ice cream.

Tradition Meets Modernity

In 1989 Tony Rossi suffered a stroke leaving him partially paralysed and although their business continued to operate all expansion plans were shelved, and in 1996 Tony suffered a second stroke from which he died in 1997. Maria was diagnosed with memory loss problems problems shortly afterwards and in 2002 Lolende gave up their Western Esplanade premises to care for her sister. Maria died in August 2005 and Lolanda died shortly afterwards in January 2006. With no immediate family to carry on the business Lolanda’s widower Reg Dimascio sold the factory and kiosk and leased out the Marine Parade Shop. The business continues under new ownership manufacturing Ice Cream from Lucy Road to the same traditional recipe first introduced by Pietro Rossi in 1932.

In 1987 Rossi’s won the top award in a national competition for Vanilla Ice Cream and in 1993 they received another rop award for their famous Rum and Raisin Ice Cream.

The Rossi Family Photo Album