AMERICA'S OLDEST ITALIAN RESTAURANT Ristorante Fior d'Italia, "The Flower of Italy" was opened on May 1st, 1886. San Francisco's Barbary Coast was then a rough and tumble neighborhood in a wild, and bawdy period in the city's history. Miners, gamblers, and sailors of all description cluttered the saloons and taverns. It was the jumping off point to the Sierra's rich gold fields. Angelo Del Monte immigrated to America to make his fortune in the California Gold Rush. Unsuccessful, he moved to San Francisco and saw huge opportunity serving food to the city's fortune hunters. To this turbulent, lusty town came another young Italian immigrant, Armido "Papa" Marianetti, who in 1890 joined thebusiness. Together they developed Fior d'Italia into one of theleading Italian restaurants in its day. The Fior has now operated out of North Beach in six different locations and, after the 1906 earthquake, a tent. In 2012 it was purchased by its fourth owners in 128 years, long-time executive chef Gianni Audieri and his wife Trudy. Gianni was born and raised in Milan, and has worked in restaurants all over the world. He joined the Fior in 1982 and has been cooking his traditional Northern Italian cuisine to rave reviews ever since. $100 gift certificate