Owner Of Steelers Bar In Rome Wants To Open Pittsburgh Location
PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) - Larry Richert recently returned from a trip to Italy. While there, he found a Steelers bar in Rome called La Botticella - proving again that Steeler Nation's reach is worldwide.
Larry spoke with owner Giovanni Poggi about why he converted his place to a Steelers bar and why he loves Pittsburgh.
Poggi has owned the bar for 24 years, but it has been a Steelers bar for the past eight years.
The first question that comes to mind is how is there a Steelers bar in Rome? Poggi was born in Rome, and his family immigrated to Canada when he was 4-years-old.
Poggi talked about why he converted the bar.
"Growing up when I was in Canada in the 1970's, there [weren't] many good teams so I picked the Steelers, and then coming back to Italy, for a long time, I wasn't able to pick up any games and just in the past years with students hanging out in my bar from western Pennsylvania, we started showing the Steelers games again and everything just picked up from there," he said.
Poggi shows the Steelers games at his bar and tries to make a trip to Pittsburgh every November to attend a game.
"I think Pittsburgh's a great town, I always have a good time. The people are very friendly, and the sports teams are great, and I try to make it down once a year around Thanksgiving to pick up a game," Poggi said.
La Botticella gets a lot of Steelers fans that show up to the bar, but also former players have visited. He has had Hall of Famer Lynn Swan, who was his first Hall of Famer to come to the bar. He has also had Lawrence Timmons, and the Rooney Family.
With Italy being six hours ahead of Eastern Time, the 1 p.m. games start at 7 p.m., and if games start later, he will still stay open if people want to watch the games.
"If it's a late night game I often, if people want to stay, we will stay open and show the games. Some of the times, I'm here by myself watching the Steelers games or the Penguins games, but if anyone wants to come over and see the games, they are more than welcome; I'll stay open anyway just to watch them myself," Poggi said.
Poggi has thought about coming to Pittsburgh and opening up a bar. He says it would be a dream for him in the future. He says he is looking into it and he hopes in the future to come to Pittsburgh more often.
Listen to "The KDKA Morning News" with Larry Richert and John Shumway weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m. on NewsRadio 1020 KDKA.
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