Lombardi's claims to be the first pizzeria

History of pizza

Pizza is a type of bread and dish that has existed since time immemorial in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. The term 'pizza' first appeared "in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD, which claims that a tenant of certain property is to give the bishop of Gaeta...

 in the United States, founded in 1905 in Little Italy, Manhattan

Little Italy, Manhattan

Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italians. Today the neighborhood of Little Italy consists of Italian stores and restaurants.-Historical area:...

. The business started out as a grocery store at 53 Spring Street in 1897 opened by Gennaro Lombardi

Gennaro Lombardi

Gennaro Lombardi was an Italian immigrant who moved to the US in 1897. He opened a small grocery store in New York's Little Italy. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, also an Italian immigrant, began making pizza for the store to sell...

. In 1905 his employee Antonio Totonno Pero began selling tomato pies wrapped in paper and tied with a string. The original way of making a New York pizza in a coal oven is still used at the restaurant. Lombardi's is unusual in not selling slices, which are popular in New York but not traditional. Instead, only whole pies made to order are sold.

In 1924, Totonno left Lombardi's to open his own pizzeria on Coney Island

Coney Island

Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....

 called Totonno's

Totonno's

Totonno's is a Coney Island pizzeria established by Antonio "Totonno" Pero. He was an employee at the Lombardi's pizzeria on Spring Street in New York's Little Italy that was established in 1905 when he began selling tomato pies cooked in a coal oven and wrapped in paper and tied with a string. In...

. In 1984 the original Lombardi's closed. In 1994, Lombardi's restaurant was re-opened a block away at 32 Spring Street by pizzamakers John Brescio, a childhood friend of Lombardi's grandson, and Gennaro Lombardi III, Gennaro Lombardi's grandson. This change in location combined with the 10 year gap in service has now cast doubt on which pizzeria can claim to be the "oldest". Papa’s Tomato Pies in Trenton, NJ opened in 1912 and has operated without interruption ever since, thus making it 3 years "older" than Lombardi's if the decade long hiatus is taken into account. In 2005, Lombardi's sold pizza pies for 5 cents, which was the original price in 1905, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first pizza being sold at the original location.

External links

• Lombardi's Coal Oven Pizza on FACEBOOK
• Lombardi's Original Pizza of New York Official Website
• PMQ's Pizza Magazine covers Lombardi's in January/February 2008 issue: Slice of the City: New York