Ernesto and Luigi Sauces

Luigi Ammirato of Ft. Myers-based Ernesto and Luigi Sauces says, “I’ve been cooking Italian food my whole life. I started when I was 16.”

Raised in New York in a Sicilian family, Ammirato makes all of the products he sells. “I sell all Italian food. Meatballs, sausages, eggplant lasagna, ravioli,” he says. “And every week I have specials. This week I have a stuffed roast pork and ossobuco with risotto.”

During the season, Ammirato attends four farmers’ markets a week as his primary sales vehicle for his homemade Italian food. He says meatballs, lasagna and chicken are his best sellers at the Marco Island market, which he says is one of the better ones he attends.  “Volume-wise, I sell a lot more here than other markets,” he says.