IN HOT WATER: Da Silvano owner Silvano Marchetto is accused of twice reaching out and rubbing a Village parking-garage manager’s crotch. (Photos: PA/ABACA)
Maybe he just wanted to know if the noodle was al dente.
The longtime owner of the famed Greenwich Village Italian eatery Da Silvano was slapped with a sex-assault suit yesterday by a manager at a nearby parking garage.
Silver-haired restaurateur Silvano Marchetto is accused of repeatedly groping Samuel Cruz’s genitals during a pair of “uninvited and unwanted” incidents last month.
Cruz’s Manhattan federal-court filing seeks unspecified damages from Marchetto and his celeb-friendly Da Silvano for assault, battery and gender discrimination.
Court papers charge that Marchetto first fondled Cruz in early October after pulling his 2008 Ferrari into the GMC garage at 122 W. Third St., where he leases spots for his three Ferraris and an Audi Q7.
While waiting for a ride to his Tuscan-style restaurant, Marchetto — whose regular customers include Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, Jack Nicholson and Anna Wintour — allegedly “turned around and rubbed plaintiff Cruz’s penis with his hand.”
Cruz says he was “shocked and horrified” and “immediately objected,” but Marchetto “merely smiled and jumped into the car.”
And while Cruz “was hoping that this was a one-time event, he was unfortunately horribly mistaken,” his suit says.
On Oct. 28, Marchetto — who’s married to New Yorker cartoonist and cancer survivor Marissa Acocella Marchetto — allegedly repeated the stunt after again pulling his Ferrari into the garage.
After Marchetto made sure nobody was watching, Cruz claims he “again reached out his hand and suddenly began to rub plaintiff Cruz’s penis.”
“However, this sexual assault was much more severe than the last, as defendant Marchetto actually grabbed and held onto plaintiff Cruz’s penis, refusing to let go,” the suit says.
Cruz claims he “firmly demanded that defendant Marchetto stop this sexual assault,” as he “was not only offended and disturbed . . . but was also in real fear for his personal safety.”
Shortly afterward, Cruz says, he told his supervisors about the alleged assaults, which Cruz claims left him “physically repulsed, disgusted and intimidated.”
Court papers say he still feels “extremely humiliated, degraded, victimized, embarrassed and emotionally distressed.”
Marchetto didn’t return messages left at his restaurant last night.