Luigi Rizzo returns home after kidnapping

MANATEE COUNTY — Luigi didn’t shake hands, give high-fives or shout in jubilation as his friends rallied around him to celebrate his homecoming Aug. 17.

Instead, he let them do the work for him, only standing in for photo opportunities with everyone who walked in to his home at Carmen’s Italian Cafe.

After being kidnapped in April, Luigi, the 4-foot-tall statue that greeted customers outside the restaurant with an Italian flag in hand, is finally home.

“I couldn’t believe (we got him back),” said chef and East County resident Carmen Rizzo, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Kay. “He’s been a part of the family (for about 15 years). It was a terrible (loss).”

Luigi was taken from the restaurant one evening in April, during business hours.

“He always stood post outside for us,” Kay Rizzo said. “We didn’t even know he was gone until (we went to take him in for the night).”

The Rizzos thought they’d never see their beloved statue again.

But in July, Kay Rizzo’s parents, Nina and Bob Henderson, spotted Luigi in someone’s backyard along U.S. 41 as they headed home from visiting family in Clearwater. They came straight to the restaurant and told their daughter and son-in-law the news.

“What are the odds?” Kay Rizzo said. “It’s just fate. I didn’t think we’d ever see Luigi again.”

Neither did Carmen.

And the next day, he and his father-in-law went to check it out. After realizing they had indeed found Luigi, the men contacted the police. After following procedure, deputies later tucked Luigi in the back of a patrol car and took him home, Kay Rizzo said.

The Rizzos decided not to press charges for the kidnapping.

Luigi’s arrival prompted much excitement at the restaurant, where regulars Steve and Rosie Petty were dining that evening. Seeing Luigi’s poor condition — broken off fingers and a split-open side — Steve Petty offered to take the statue under his care. He then took Luigi to his friend, Jim Albright, who owns a fiberglass boat repair business, for what patrons now have dubbed as Luigi’s “pasta surgery.”

When repairs were finished about three weeks ago, Steve Petty took Luigi home and gave him a fresh coat of paint.

“It wasn’t too challenging,” Petty said of the job. “I added some gray hair to make him look more distinguished.”

Patrons organized Luigi’s homecoming celebration, which featured a pasta special and even a new “Luigi” cocktail. Customers themselves planned the celebration almost entirely, making banners, sending out emails and even taking photos with Luigi throughout the night, Kay Rizzo said.

“It was very neat to see the customers get involved,” Carmen Rizzo said.

Although Carmen’s Italian Café has been open only three-and-one-half years, Carmen Rizzo has had Luigi for at least 15 years, he said.

The statue has stood watch at several of Rizzo’s other restaurants over the years and had become a generational photo opportunity for regular customers and tourists alike.

The Rizzos planned to return Luigi to his outside post sometime this week, after the East County Observer went to press. He will join another statue at the restaurant, Gordon, who assumed Luigi’s job of holding the Italian flag during Luigi’s absence.

Kay Rizzo said she expects Gordon to take up his role holding a “Welcome to Carmen’s” pizza paddle, as he did before Luigi disappeared. Gordon has been at the restaurant for about a year.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

Anniversary Plans
Carmen’s Italian Cafe regulars Steve and Rosie Petty spent their 38th wedding anniversary in Italy in May. After three weeks of touring the country, the couple returned home, eager to share their pictures with their friends, Carmen and Kay Rizzo, owners of Carmen’s Italian Café.

After much discussion, the Rizzos and the Pettys now will return to Italy together in September.

Carmen and Kay Rizzo plan to share their own fifth-anniversary dinner on Sept. 4 at the same restaurant the Pettys dined for their anniversary a few months ago.