There’s a history to pizza. It’s in tradition, family, and even local pride. And that confluence of those three things, shaped approximately like a slice of pizza, is evident right here in Wayne, at the corner of Church and Hamburg, in a place we all know as Vinni’s Pizzarama.
That familiar green, white, and red rooftop is a herald of the Trani family’s Italian lineage. They hail from Ischia, a small island near Capri off the coast of Naples. Yes, that Naples - the birthplace of pizza. The restaurant is now run by Giuseppe (Joe) and Alessandro (Alex) Trani, continuing the family tradition that has served some of our area’s best pizza for nearly fifty years..
It was the brothers’ uncle Vinni who came to the country in the late 1970’s, eventually opening his eponymous Vinni’s Pizzarama in 1979. In true Naples tradition, Vinni was dedicated to using only the freshest ingredients available, and relied on the time-tested recipes he’d brought with him. His younger brother, Nicola, worked for him here when he was 17, before moving back to Italy. In 1987, he and his new wife, Antonietta came back to the United States, taking over the business from Vinni. When their father passed in 2008, their mom took over until the boys - along with help from their sister, Nicola - joined in to run the business about four years ago. You can find at least one of them there every single day.
That’s family tradition.
“All of the recipes are the same since we opened all those years ago,” Joe says. The sauce is the original family recipe, straight from the Neapolitan coast. Nothing has changed with that. So when you order pizza from Vinni’s, it’s coming in a straight line to Wayne from the heart of Italy’s pizza capital.
And it doesn’t end just with the pizza. They take a distinctly Neapolitan take on some of the other things they serve - fried calzones, for example, as they do in Naples, as opposed to being baked the American way. “When you go to Naples, that’s how it’s done,” Joe explains.
Yet there’s still red, white, and blue beneath that red, white and green roof. What’s one of Joe’s favorite things on Vinni’s menu? Cheesesteaks. Nobody said that there couldn’t be a little American tradition in this Italian kitchen, after all.
They’ve also started their own small tradition of working with special needs kids. For about an hour every day, have them come to work with them, building pizza boxes and generally helping around the restaurant. It helps to show them that they’re special - and they’re needed.
That’s a tradition that goes beyond borders, beyond family. It’s a real slice of humanity.
The tradition that Uncle Vinni started all those years ago lives on. He and Nicola would be proud of this family.
Vinni’s Pizzarama is located at 1025 Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne. They’re open every day.