Santarpio's Pizza

History

Santarpio's Pizza was among the first pizzerias to serve Italian immigrants who had settled in East Boston and nearby areas. The Santarpio family still runs the business, and the menu includes barbecued lamb, steak tips, chicken, and sausage. Glenn Carlton has been making the bread and pizza dough for thirty years. Lennie Timpone, whose mother was a Santarpio, was born in 1945 and has spent his entire career working at the Chelsea Street location.

For more than a hundred years, the restaurant only operated out of its original East Boston spot. This long refusal to expand was largely due to Frank Santarpio, the third-generation owner who ran things for over four decades. He was known for being reluctant to grow the business, wanting to preserve the old-world quality and specific feel of the original shop. After Frank retired in 2005, the fourth generation—his children Carla, Joia, and Frank Jr.—started planning for growth.

That led to a second location on Route 1 in Peabody, which opened in 2010. Carla Santarpio manages that site, which is much bigger than the original and added items like salads, which the East Boston menu never had. In March 2020, the business opened another spot in Terminal C at Logan International Airport as part of an airport modernization project. Even with these new locations, the family has kept a careful approach to growth to protect the brand's quality.