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Contact Us

Service

Parts

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The Di Fatta Brothers, Ltd
5928 Belair Road
Baltimore, MD 21206

giovanni@difatta.com

Order line: (800) 638-7656
(orders only please)
Customer Service: 410-426-7524
Fax Line: 410-426-8194

The Story of the Di Fatta Brothers

The Di Fatta Brothers started in Cefalu' in Sicily in the early fifties with Salvatore learning from the masters at age ten. In a few years, Salvatore's passion for automobiles and motorcycles grew and he started to do the repairs on his own. When Salvatore's brother Giovanni turned eight Salvatore wanted him to start helping in the shop after school. Over the next few years, young Giovanni became increasingly skilled and began performing major automotive repairs at the shop. Every year in the month of May they used to host in their shop major teams (Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maseratis) for the famous Targa Florio races. All the mechanics from those teams were amazed with the repairs they could do at such a young age, convincing Giovanni to go work with some of these race car teams in northern Italy (Milan, Torino). At age sixteen Giovanni moved to Milan and started working with an international repair shop.

In the early sixties, Salvatore decided to sell his shop in Cefalu' and move to Baltimore to continue to work in an international shop that also were dealers of Alfa and Fiat. Giovanni continued to work in Milan and helped provide Salvatore with parts that were hard to find in America. In 1966 Giovanni moved to Baltimore to work with his brother Salvatore at the same shop he was working. After a year Salvatore decided to work for a Mercedes and Fiat shop, while Giovanni continued to work at the same place for the next ten years. Both brothers had a dream to own their own repair, parts, and service shop. Finally in 1976 this dream came true and they started the Di Fatta Brothers. Many of their customers from the years prior followed them to the Di Fatta Brothers to keep having their cars repaired by the Di Fatta's. Tragically, 3 months after opening the shop, Salvatore was killed in a car accident. After a couple years Giovanni decided to import his own automobile parts from Italy, to improve the downtime in repairing these vehicles. The rest, as they say, is history.

Our head mechanic, Paul, was a neighbor of the Di Fatta's residence and he began assisting Giovanni at the shop shortly after opening. As a young teenager, he always stopped at the DiFatta's to watch them prepare their race car, a Fiat 500 modified Abarth 1 liter. Paul showed a lot of enthusiasm towards the cars and was recruited at the Di Fatta Brothers. Our parts manager, Ed, began working for the business approximately five years after opening. With an extensive knowledge of the industry, Giovanni eagerly recruited Ed to partner with him to help grow the new parts business.

Always a family business, Tony, another "Di Fatta brother," has contributed to the success of the business since the beginning by handling the financial aspects of running a bustling auto parts, service and repair facility. Giovanni's three daughters have also contributed to the shop's continued success. Gabrielle, Giovanni's middle daughter, has been helping her father around the shop for years and continues to work there part-time while attending school. Supported by a dedicated and knowledgeable staff, Di Fatta Brothers remains a force in the Italian automotive parts and service business. The Di Fatta Brothers has been open for over 30 years now as "the" Italian Car Specialist in the Baltimore area. With local service for your Italian/European automobile and nationwide parts sales, the business is doing well and they are still keeping their customers happy and coming back.