Our History
The story and origin behind our family pizzeria.
The story and origin behind our family pizzeria.
Our legacy begins 80 years ago across the Atlantic, in a small town off the northern Coast of Sicily called Castelldaccia. Giovanni, began to hone his trade baking bread in a wood fired oven in the midst of the Great Depression in the 1930's. He was only a child of 8 years old when he and his Sister, Rosalie, had to gather wood across the Campagna, (Sicilian countryside) to fuel the oven. Together they would harvest by hand the wheat they had sown. After harvest was completed, all the wheat was loaded on to their beasts of burden and off to the mill. Times were tough then because the family needed to be supported by selling bread. After a number of years of breadmakıng, they earned enough to keep the family going along with farming. After World War I, Giovanni went to the army and left the farming and breadmaking to Francesco, Mario and Salvatore.
Rosalie, the oldest child, died in the 1940's from stomach cancer Giovanni came to the United States in 1955 and resumed the art of breadmaking in the heart of Manhattan. During 1950's New York style pizza business was in its infancy, and he made the natural transition over to the relatively new industry. Francesco joined Giovanni in the mid 1960's in a number of establishments across New York City. In early 1969 they made the decision to come to Pennsylvania, and decided on Pottsville, PA. For 26 years, from 1969 until 1995 Roma Pizza sold exclusively New York style pizza and soda, nothing else. Giovanni and Francesco purchased the current building in 1975. Beginning in the late 1970's Pottsville retail business went into a tailspin.
This era literally took the life out of Pottsville. However, Giovanni and Francescó hung on because they had seen tough times before. Pete and Pete, as they are commonly known, came into the business in 1994. They strongly believed that their Pizza was secon restaurant business using their fathers' philosophy; Use only the best ingredients and unparalled customer service. Slowly but surely, they reinvested back into their family business and renovated the 120, year old building over the following 8 years. Enhancements include murals by David Naydock, an upstairs bar, upstairs dining room and private dining area as well as a European made all organic wood fired oven that reflects the European roots of the establishment and pays homage to the bread baking that began the Roma Pizza story.
