Lombardi’s — from one emigrant to another

When Sefora and I walked into Lombardi’s in New York, we were looking for more than a good pizza. Above all, we had come for its history.

On the walls, we found old photographs, pictures of pizza makers at work, family memories and traces of the many people who had passed through those rooms. Looking at them, I thought of the Italians who left their homeland and crossed the ocean carrying very little, yet also something enormous: their craft, their dignity, their willingness to work and a taste of home.

That is why Lombardi’s touched me in a particular way. I, too, am a child of Italian emigration, and I grew up in Switzerland. My story is different, of course, but I know the value of roots and understand what it means to build a life far from your homeland. Walking into a place born from the experience of Italian emigrants and seeing that, more than a century later, people still come here is something that goes beyond food.

A place to take your time exploring: every wall has something to tell.

A story that began more than a century ago

Lombardi’s describes itself as “America’s First Pizzeria” and dates its beginnings to 1905. The historical account of the very earliest origins of American pizza is still debated, but one thing is certain: Lombardi’s has become one of the pizzerias that symbolise Italian history in New York.

The original restaurant closed in 1984. Ten years later, in 1994, Gennaro “Jerry” Lombardi III and his childhood friend John Brescio brought the Lombardi’s name back to life at a new location on Spring Street. The portrait of John Brescio that we photographed inside is therefore more than a picture of a famous customer: it depicts someone who played an important part in the pizzeria’s modern revival.

That continuity gave us something to think about. Generations change, the city changes, and the way people eat changes too. Yet when a story has real roots, it can live on.

The photographs of firefighters

Inside, we noticed several tributes to New York’s firefighters. In the photograph of me sitting at the table, some of their pictures can be seen on the pillar behind me. For Sefora and me, both firefighters, this was no ordinary detail.

Those photographs made us think of our New York colleagues, their daily lives, the meals shared after duty and, above all, the sacrifice of 11 September 2001. That day, 343 members of the FDNY lost their lives. In 2024, Lombardi’s was among the New York pizzerias that dedicated a “Wall of Honor” to World Trade Center responders living with the effects and illnesses linked to 9/11.

We do not want to use that memory as decoration. We simply want to pause, remember and pay our respects.

The pizza we ate

The pizza was good, well baked and generous. The raised crust had a lovely structure, and there was plenty of topping. We shared a pizza with spicy salami.

Let us be honest: we did not go to Lombardi’s because we necessarily expected to find the best pizza of our lives. We went because we wanted to discover a piece of Italian history in America. We enjoyed the pizza, but the real value of the experience lay in everything around it.

Even a bottle of S.Bernardo sparkling water made us smile: in one of New York’s historic pizzerias, we found Italian water. It is a small detail, but it shows how certain ties to Italy keep resurfacing, even on the other side of the ocean.

More than a pizza

Lombardi’s is more than somewhere to sit down, eat and leave. It is a place to observe at your own pace. Take time to look at the walls, the photographs, the faces and the movements of pizza makers from years gone by.

The pizza was good. The atmosphere was lively and unmistakably New York. But what we take away above all is the history: Italian emigrants who built something important in a new city, and a name that is still remembered after so many years.

From one emigrant to another,
this story felt close to home.