[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 18, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S3466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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          100TH ANNIVERSARY OF FRANK PEPE PIZZERIA NAPOLETANA

 Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the 
100th anniversary of Frank Pepe Pizza Napoletana, a bona fide 
institution in Connecticut.
  Frank Pepe was born in the foothills of Maori, Italy, near Naples. He 
immigrated to the United States as a teenager in 1909, having neither 
money nor fluency in English but with a strong work ethic and ambition 
to make a life for himself. After briefly returning to Italy to fight 
in World War I, he met Filomena Volpi in Maori in 1919. Together, they 
moved back to New Haven, marrying and settling down to raise a family.
  In New Haven, Frank worked first in a pasta factory and then in a 
bakery on Wooster Street. While at the bakery, Frank began making his 
own version of the classic ``apizza''--then a relatively obscure ethnic 
dish--and selling them off of a special headdress in the Wooster Square 
market. As his tomato pies became increasingly popular, he eventually 
saved enough money to buy a wagon before taking over the bakery's 
operations in June 1925 and officially establishing Frank Pepe Pizzeria 
Napoletana.
  In his early years, Frank employed a small staff of relatives. His 
wife Filomena was especially invaluable. Unlike Frank, she could speak 
and write English and so took over the pizzeria's administrative and 
other business-related operations.
  Business was booming, and in 1937, Frank bought the larger building 
next door at 157 Wooster Street, where the primary New Haven location 
still stands. Frank also became incredibly active in the New Haven 
community, coming to be known as ``Old Reliable'' for his numerous 
contributions to his neighborhood and unwavering love for his growing 
extended family.
  Frank Pepe passed away in 1969, leaving the pizzeria to his two 
daughters Elizabeth and Serafina. They continued to expand the 
pizzeria, purchasing the old bakery next door in the late 1970s and 
reopening it as Frank Pepe's The Spot.
  Frank Pepe's reputation as one of--if not the--premier pizzerias in 
the country continued to spread far and wide. In the early 1990s, 
Elizabeth and Serafina retired and passed the pizzeria on to their 
children Anthony, Francis, Lisa, Bernadette, Genevieve, Jennifer, and 
Gary, who still operate the business to this day. They have also 
overseen its expansion across the country, now having 17 stores in 7 
States.
  Frank Pepe's story is truly quintessentially American: an immigrant 
who came to America in search of a better life, bringing with him an 
element of his cultural heritage that bettered his community. And Frank 
Pepe's continues to make some of the best pizza in the world. I hope my 
colleagues will join me in honoring the 100th anniversary of Frank Pepe 
Pizzeria Napoletana and the tremendous legacy of the Pepe 
family.

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