Importing business co-founder Alessi dies

By LINDA GIBSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

TAMPA -- Rosalie Cacciatore Alessi, who with her husband founded the Vigo Importing Co., died Thursday at St. Joseph's Hospital. She was 85.

Mrs. Alessi and her late husband, Antonino Alessi Sr., started their business in 1947 in their garage. The company grew to occupy a 280,000-square-foot facility in Tampa with 150 employees. It imports olives, olive oil, Greek peppers, cheese and pasta.

Mr. Alessi died July 2, 1999, at the age of 93. He and Mrs. Alessi had been married for 66 years.

Mrs. Alessi oversaw the company's shipping operations, supervising what orders were loaded into the trucks at the warehouse, said her granddaughter, Laura DeLucia.

"They worked very hard, side by side, for years," she said of her grandparents. They lived simply even after the business became successful, she said.

Mrs. Alessi quit going to the office only about five years ago, after knee replacement surgery. She loved to cook. DeLucia said she will especially miss her grandmother's scacciatta, a dish of chard flavored by garlic and oil sandwiched between two layers of bread.

Mrs. Alessi, born in Tampa, is survived by sons Tony Jr. and Alfred, who took over running the business after their father died; a brother, Angelo Cacciatore; sisters Janie Hondal and Mary Pipitone; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation is to be Sunday, July 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Gonzalez Funeral Home chapel. The funeral service is to be Monday, July 17, at 10 a.m. at the chapel at 7209 N Dale Mabry Highway.

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