The First Pizzeria In The USA Opened In New York City

A pizzeria called Lombardi's may be found at 32 Spring Street, which is a corner of Mott Street in Manhattan's Nolita area. The Pizza Hall of Fame has acknowledged it as the country's very first pizzeria since it opened its doors in 1905.

The company is thought to have been founded by Italian immigrant Gennaro Lombardi in 1897 at 531.2 Spring Street as a grocery store. At lunchtime, he started selling tomato pies to local factory employees, wrapped in paper and tied with a thread. Italian tenor Enrico Caruso was among the patrons of Lombardi's pizzeria restaurant after he obtained a business license in 1905. Later, Lombardi transferred ownership of the company to his son George.

The original Lombardi's closed in 1984 but was resurrected ten years later, a block away at 32 Spring Street, by Gennaro Lombardi III, the grandson of Gennaro Lombardi, and John Brescio, a boyhood friend. Papa's Tomato Pies in Trenton, New Jersey, which debuted in 1912 and has continuously sold pies since, now has the title of America's oldest pizzeria. This break and location move caused Papa's to lose its previous record. Brescio, who is still the business's proprietor, was identified by law police in 2017 as a captain in the Genovese criminal family.

Lombardi's may not be the oldest pizzeria still in business, but its founding is associated with the $45 billion pizza industry that exists today.