our Story

In the early 1900’s in the town of Cavasso  Nuovo, Udine Province, in  Italy my Grandparents Vincenzo Bier and Luigia Bazzani were born. My Grandfather had a brother and a sister, they worked in the family owned terrazzo factory in southern Austria. The factory was across the border from their northern Italian home in Tolmezzo.  As the boys grew they worked in the family business, sometimes skiing over the border in the winter to get to work. This became very complicated in 1915 during WW1 when neutral Italy and Austria were aligned with different sides.

Vincenzo met his wife to be in the early 1920’s.  He made the difficult decision to move to France in 1922 to find work and help support his family. He stayed there for two years and then decided to migrate to Australia intending to make it his permanent home.

Vincenzo returned to Italy and proposed to Luigia Bazzani and were married in 1930.  They migrated to Australia and had a daughter and two sons, one being my Dad.  Vincenzo passed away when my Dad was 14 years old. 

Fast forward to 1970’s. My parents married, followed by 4 children.  My Grandmother lived with us for many years.  Her children and their families would come together at our home every weekend to share a meal and discuss many issues of the world, very passionately with lots of hand gestures and laughter.  My Aunty and her husband would bring their homemade Grappa to share after dinner. 

I moved to Mansfield in the late 1990s and met Mike at Mt Buller, where I was working.  My son Aidan and I moved from Mansfield to Melbourne to live with Mike and his two children.

Mt Buller has a special place in our hearts, it’s the place we all enjoy visiting in the winter and green season. Mike and I celebrated our wedding with our family and friends at the chapel.

Now all the children are through their schooling, Mike and I have been drawn back to Mansfield to live, to open our café and bring you a taste of Italy.