A resident of California since 1905, Ermenegildo Calanchini, now an enterprising business man of Los Gatos, was born in Linescio, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, November 25, 1891.  His father, Baptiste Calanchini, married Miss Albina Bolli and was a farmer in the Alps region, where the mother died in 1893.  The father came to California while our subject was still a little child, and became a dairyman near Petaluma, where he now lives retired.  Of the two children born of this unions, Ermenegildo is the youngest and the only one to grow to maturity and was carefully reared by his Grandmother Bolli, receiving a good education in the local schools.  When he reached the age of fourteen he determined to try his luck in California, and although he regrets leaving his grandmother he responded to the desire to join his father, arriving in Petaluma November 4, 1905.  For a while he assisted his father in his ranching and also attended one term of public school.  He spent some years in San Francisco and Petaluma, being employed in the restaurants and hotels.  In 1913 he came to Santa Clara County, locating in San Jose, where he was in the employ of the Swiss-American Hotel for a period of four years, until he enlisted in the United States Army November 4, 1917. 

He trained at Camp Lewis, then at Camp Kearny, and later at Camp Hancock, Georgia, until he was ordered overseas.  Leaving New York April 1, 1918, he duly arrived in France, having stopped in Liverpool enroute.  After training for three weeks they were sent to the front and he was at Chateau Thierry, July 15 to 20, when he went over the top with others of his comrades; and afterward in the Battle of the Marne, on July 26, he was gassed and wounded, being carried from the field , necessitating his remaining in the hospital for more than thirty days.  Rejoining his regiment he was in active service until the Armistice.  He was among the first of the troops ordered home, and returning to New York he received his honorable discharge in December, 1918, when he immediately returned to San Jose.

Two weeks later he was married to Miss Edith Bonzani, born at Pescadero , California, who has proven to be his able assistant.  Mr. Calanchini then spent a little more than two years as a boiler maker with the Southern Pacific Railroad, resigning October 20, 1921, to engage in the business in Los Gatos.  He purchased the Italian Star Restaurant on East Main Street and changed the name to the Liberty Restaurant.  He also bought a half -interest with S E. Guiglielmoni in the Liberty Cigar Store, at the same time selling a halfinterest in his restaurant to Mr. Guiglielmoni, continuing the business together, and they are meeting with deserving success.  Mr. Calanchini understands the restaurant business and leaves nothing undone to make it a popular as well as a profitable business place, dispensing the best of foods and giving excellent service.  He has a host of friends in the county that go out of their way to patronize him and wish him well.  He is a member of the Druids and the Los Gatos Camp of the American Legion.