The blocks surrounding the Cipolletti Railway Station They speak of another time, with a lot of history in their buildings, although the meeting point for residents has been moved to the area of squares and offices. One of the examples is the intersection of Fernández Oro and Villegas streets, where dates, lunches, dinners and different games flowed from the origins of the town. Ordinance No. 177/11, which lists the local historical heritage, locates your property as the headquarters of the Ancient “Casa Padín”with cadastral nomenclature 31-H-556-12, and as a last reference recognizes the place baptized as “Another History”which was driven by the beloved neighbor Jacobo “Jorge” Romañuk, who died at the beginning of this month. But what happened in the middle of so much history?
According to the doctor in History, Liliana Fedelialso a neighbor of the city, there Guillermo Padín opened his restaurant “España” in 1903, where pasta was the specialty on Sundays and holidays. The place, built by José Delfino before selling it, was refuge for “engineers and bosses of the Ballester Dam work, who on weekends traveled with their families by train from the company to Cipolletti, to spend the day in our town,” commented the teacher. That work began in 1910 and concluded in 1916, inadvertently giving a time frame for the era being described in this Rescue.
The years passed until we entered the ’20s and It is not known specifically when the iconic wooden bar was assembled. that received clients, but its presence is a registered trademark in every photo that is kept of the place, escorted behind by the mirrors and colorful flowers in the vitreaux style. In fact, in times of its operation as the “American Bar”a photo that Leandro, grandson ofthe next owner, Alfredo Marinozzi, you can already see it installed, on display, beautiful as always. While Padín changed the “Bookstore” category, there on the historic corner they lived snack days, coffee with milk and croissants, French bread sandwichesham and cheese or with butter and mortadella, but also rounds of billiards and “raw and cheese specials”, accompanied with cold beer. The experiences for the youngest were completed at the exit with a walk, “wandering between the carriages” in front, some neighbors recalled in comments collected by the group “Cipolletti in Yesterday.”
Thanks to the book “Voices of my city: Cipolletti 1903 -2003”, which includes an interview with Don Alfredo MarinozziFedeli was able to affirm that that corner “It was like a cultural shopping center.”, in which it was shared from friendship, but also doing business. One of the pool tables was the daily fixture, at the 13th hour, for six neighbors, among whom was the then merchant Luis Toschi. The condition to continue participating in the group was punctuality, so whoever arrived five minutes late knew that they would be replaced. The anecdote tells that one noon the Toschi family He had the Consul of Italy himself visiting, but that did not stop the passionate player from missing his game. usual. “At five to one, she asked for permission and left,” the historian said. To prioritize that taste for the game, the bar organized tournaments with prizes for the winners, medals and cups. There were also exhibitions of champions and greats experts like Héctor Carrera and the Navarra brothers.
Chess was also played there.like when on one occasion the International Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf cameArgentine but of Polish origin, to play “simultaneously” with the local exponents, Fedeli added.
The inspiration of the “Uruguayan” Romañuk made him take charge of the space in the 1980s. of the Marinozzi, to install the last still life in the city. “Popular restaurant with very rich and well-prepared cuisine. Soul of a canteen and social club. Place where on Mondays you eat an excellent stew and the chorizo steak is XXL“, described RÍO NEGRO for the “Recommended” note in July 2017. Prepared for 60 diners, fed and cared for by the women of the teamthere converged for several decades the piano bar, the shows, the nighttime milonga and the “milanesa on horseback” lunches and good fries”, washed down with table wine and local soda, because “a trigger is not the same as a thread and a soulless sodeado is not sodeado.” 120 years of life, waiting to see what’s next on the next page.