Death of Ferrari’s restaurant boss (66)

Ginio Ferrari with his wife Susan and their first grandchild

Giancarlo Ferrari had travelled from the family home in Italy to speak in the full church of Our Lady and St Michael in Alston, about the man who had run the popular Ferrari’s Country House Hotel and Restaurant in Thornley-with-Wheatley near Longridge for 20 years.

“You were always more of a doer than a talker,” he stated. “At first in Great Eccleston, then at Longridge, you together with your family, offered to all a demonstration of skill and expertise, a mixture of your professional competence and moral code, displaying character, courage and strength.”

Ginio Ferrari died two days before his 67th birthday after being diagnosed with cancer six months ago.

He was born in Pavia, near Milan, the youngest of five and grew up on the family farm which is still run by Giancarlo Ferrari.

After their eldest brother left Italy and moved to Whitstable in Kent to open Giovanni’s Restaurant, Ginio followed to help him in 1969 and to learn the profession of restaurateur.

It was there he met his future wife, Liverpool-born Susan Hoban, then aged 16 and working in her first job.

They married when she was 18 and, after helping Giovanni at a second restaurant in Kent and with a growing family, they moved north to Lancashire in 1984 to open their first hotel and restaurant in Great Eccleston.

Following the success of this enterprise and with their four children in mind, Ginio and Susan decided to extend and sustain their business for the family by buying the Thornley property, then known as Black Moss House.

Ginio continued to look after the Great Eccleston business, while Susan ran Ferrari’s in Thornley, helped in the early years by her mother May Hoban.

The children – Annamaria, Luisa, Tino and Suzy – now all help to run both businesses, continuing their father’s commitment and legacy.

A strong family man, he was also known as very competitive in his love of the sports of soccer and squash, being involved in the local clubs and leagues, and of his membership of Longridge Golf Club after joining eight years ago.

Another love and interest, with his family, was of horses and of the several Arabs they bred at Ferrari’s, three now remain on the property.

Ginio Ferrari is survived by his wife Susan, their four children and two grandchildren, Amelie and Benjamin.