Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana

Frank Pepe was the quintessential American immigrant with a quintessential American story. He immigrated to America as a teenager in 1909. After returning to Italy for a few years to fight in World War I, he returned to New Haven to work in a pasta factory and then in a bakery on Wooster Street. While working at the bakery, Pepe started making his version of the classic "apizza" (pronounced A-beets), a style of pizza from his hometown of Naples. Frank Pepe began selling his "tomato pies" off a special headdress, walking through the Wooster Square market with several pies perched atop his head. He eventually saved enough money to buy a wagon and continued selling the increasingly popular "apizza." In June of 1925, Frank Pepe took over the bakery's operation and established "Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana" on Wooster Street. The rest, as they say, was history.