Our family’s Western New York roots were planted in 1915, when our grandpa Fioravante and his family arrived in Buffalo from their native Naples, Italy. It was not popular to be an immigrant at that time. He got a job as a laborer installing streetcar tracks, and endured many a taunt from co-workers.

As the jabs continued, grandpa decided he would never work for anyone but himself again. He and his wife Maria began making Italian cookies, pastries, and candies, along with pizza in their home, and sold it to local stores and on the streets. As their family grew to eight sons and three daughters, a larger house was purchased on Seneca Street, and a small storefront was added to sell grandpa‘s treats.

Today, our third and fourth generations are still making pizza. Picasso’s Pizza opened its first location on Union Road in West Seneca in 1980, and has expanded to include locations on Broadway in Lancaster, on Transit Road in Williamsville, and on McKinley Parkway in Blasdell.

After all of these years, we’ve held onto grandpa’s values of quality and service, not to mention the original recipes for his dough and sauce. To this day, we even hand-cut all our pepperoni. Because it’s not just a slogan, we really are Buffalo pizza.

—Larry Santora