Few gastronomic arenas are as competitive as New York: Ciro Iovine conquered it alongside his wife Austria, creating a franchise of large, creative Neapolitan pizzas. "But my next dream is to make a big entrance in Europe."
The pizzeria
Fuorigrotta, early '80s. Dad a tailor, mom a housewife, eight mouths to feed, and a street stall selling everything from markers to soap. Ciro Iovine grew up navigating the alleys of Naples until his father encouraged him to learn a trade. "I tried with ice cream, but it only lasted a day. Then my brother took me to a pizzeria, and it was love at first sight, like magic."
The path was set, and at eighteen, it took him far from the city, which he continues to hold dear and represent wherever he goes. Trieste, London, Nice, even the Caribbean. "Because I wanted to change my life." Real change happened when he met his future wife, Dominican Austria Maldonado, now the mother of their five children, often with her hands in the dough. With her, Ciro decided to fly to New York to visit a mutual friend but ended up opening four pizzerias featured in The New York Times.
Certainly, the beginnings were not the easiest. "My first job lasted half an hour: I found myself in a place where they were mixing ingredients that should not exist in the Neapolitan pizza vocabulary: sugar, eggs... I left immediately because I didn't want to betray my country." Slowly but surely, with his wife, he began dreaming of his own place in Manhattan. "She is a great woman, my lucky charm. She was the only one who believed in me. Together we made many sacrifices, and now we can say we have just as many rewards."
So, in 2015, the first Song' E Napule was born, a name chosen by Austria, meaning "I am from Naples," but some think of it as a romantic song. It's a piece of Parthenope transported to New York, at 146 W Houston Street, basically on the border between Greenwich Village and SoHo.
His pizza stands out immediately, primarily for the 100% Italian ingredients. "Because I promised myself to bring Made in Italy and Made in Naples to the world." Some still ask for pineapple on pizza, and he doesn't take it well. But he never compromises, with a devotion to his roots and his favorite team (Napoli) that ends up winning over the Americans.
The success is such that in November 2021, the couple repeated it in New Jersey, and in March 2023, they opened another location in the Upper West Side. Just two months later, the stakes rose again with the inauguration of a new, larger location next to the original one on Houston Street. It's another Neapolitan sanctuary, but bigger and more modern, with a summer kiosk offering authentic "wide-open lemonade." Ciro, in fact, dreamed of bringing to New York the emotions that the lemonade vendor Carolina Guerra pours in Naples. Today, tourists and New Yorkers line up for that refreshing juice that fizzes and froths thanks to a pinch of baking soda.
There are classic pizzas, those that will never die, and creative pizzas. For example, with tartare of fillet mignon with white or black truffle, pumpkin for Halloween, or the Nerano with Armatore ventresca, costing $45. "So, it's the waiter who must know how to tell the quality of the raw materials. We use extraordinary Sicilian oil, like Dop tomato. But New Yorkers now travel and know true Italian cuisine. New York is the capital of the world, and pizza is like pasta: it can accommodate anything if the right considerations are made."
Ciro and Austria wouldn't have succeeded if they hadn't built a family with employees who are now like brothers. Some are Italian, but there are also Asians, Latinos, and the most skilled is Nepalese. "That's the only way we go far," they swear. The story is not over yet. "This name is a franchise: our next dream is to return to Europe. Even in Italy, why not. Our palate is different; sometimes I miss my Italian customers."
