After nearly two decades an Italian restaurateur is getting the chance to call himself a New Zealand citizen.
Luigi Barattieri, the owner of three Tauranga restaurants, will become a Kiwi in an official citizenship ceremony on Thursday. He is among a growing number of migrants who have chosen to call
Tauranga home.
"I already feel at home here but that will make it official."
The colourful and charismatic Mr Barattieri left his native Milan in 1995.
Mr Barattieri, who runs Comida, Lo Spuntino and Volare in Tauranga's Strand area, first moved to the Cook Islands to open an icecream parlour. However, he left a year later after his business partner died.