Enrico Moreno Lovadina

Enrico Moreno Lovadina was born on January 19, 1960, in Conegliano, Italy to the late Guido Lovadina and the late Laura Zamperla. He was the youngest of five children and lived most of his childhood in the house built by his father, in a small town located about 30 miles north of Venice, in the foothills of the Alps.

He often recounted what he considered to be a boy’s ideal childhood, playing war games with his friends and collecting remnants of WWII that he found in the Piave River, near his house. His fascination with the United States stemmed from his interactions with US Army troops that were stationed near his house. He and his friends would run errands for the troops and sell them homemade salami and wine that he got from his dad’s cellar. He often laughed and said that he made more money at age ten through these sales than he did at age twenty. After attending the Nautical School in Venice for about a one and a half years, he decided to visit the United States.

He immigrated to the United States in 1978, at the age of eighteen, and ended up in St. Louis quite by accident. He met and subsequently married Karen and they raised four children; Alex, Alan, Isabella, and Giuliano who predeceased him in 2015 at the age of twenty-seven.

Enrico worked as a cook at several restaurants on the Hill, including Giovanni’s, Dominic’s, Agusti’s Trattoria, and Marco Polo to name a few. He also worked at Anthony’s Downtown and the Omni Hotel. His entrepreneurial endeavors include custom made ice cream carts serving specialty made ice cream, the sale of championship sportswear and pennants, food carts at festivals all over Missouri, growing a specialty lettuce (radicchio) here in Missouri, and importing Greek, Turkish, and Italian olive oil.

In 2009, Enrico moved to Cameroon, West Africa where he held a position at his brother’s logging company. After the death of his brother in 2018, he returned to Italy. He returned to the house that his father built and mostly tended to apiaries that he started there.

After his cancer diagnosis in July of 2022, he lived until December 29, 2024

Traveling, collecting seeds from exotic species of plants, beekeeping, cooking, and his garden were the things he got the most pleasure from in life.

It was very comforting to him that he was able to see Karen, Alex, and Isabella during his last days on earth and he wanted nothing more than to be reunited with his beloved parents and son, Giuliano.

The family wants to extend their gratitude to Fr. Jack Siefert for so graciously hosting St. Mary’s Assumption Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for the funeral service.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic funeral services will be held at 1pm, Thursday, March 13, 2025, at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, 5130 Wilson Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63110. Interment in Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery