He’s spent a year in the hospital, but we still want Nino Pernetti to get well soon | Editorial
Carlos Frias, the Miami Herald’s food editor, revealed this week that beloved restaurateur Nino Pernetti, founder, lord and master of Caffe Abbracci, an enduring Coral Gables restaurant, has been fighting COVID-19 and its effects for more than a year. It’s an inspiring narrative about endurance and love.
Since December 2020, bad news became worse news, before more hopeful news emerged. Pernetti could have died. His survival is a testament to the fact that he, his reconstituted family and a committed team of healthcare and rehab professionals never gave up.
Pernetti was told he had COVID — just before vaccines became available to the public. His condition progressively got worse, to the point where, once hospitalized, he was found unresponsive after cortisone treatments to help stimulate his lungs. Breathing was nearly impossible. He was intubated. He’s now in rehab and has going home in his sights.
It’s a stark and cautionary story about the ravages of COVID, too often pooh-poohed as the disease, in its third iteration, “only has mild symptoms.” We know that for many people, once in COVID’s grip, they cannot easily wriggle free, even after they’ve survived the virus.
But it’s also a moving story of commitment and resilience. Pernetti’s ex-wife, Marlén, years after a fraught divorce, is seeing to his every need. His daughters’ love and attention, no doubt, have been reassuring and restorative. That, and the loyalty of Caffe Abbracci’s patrons, still eager for the savory Penne della Nonna, the Branzino Primavera — and the privacy the restaurant affords its celebrity guests. Marlén Pernetti understands just how high the stakes are: “I wish people would understand this is live or die,” she told the Herald.
Pernetti is a well-respected, community-engaged legend in Miami, and, clearly, he’s a fighter. After more than a year, it’s too late to say: Get well soon. So we’ll leave it at: Get well, as soon as possible.
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This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 4:54 PM.