The History of the Del Prete Bakers

I am proud to say that I am the fourth generation of bakers in the Del Prete Family.

In 1886, my great-grandfather, Luigi Del Prete was born in Caserta, Campania, Italy. Luigi and his family moved to America by way of Boston, Massachusetts in 1910 when he was a young man at the age of 24. After 2 years in Boston, Luigi moved to New York and worked at a bakery in Brooklyn on Union Street, near Columbia Street. Brooklyn is where he met his wife Antoinette, and where they opened a pastry shop on 22nd Street, before moving the shop to 4th Avenue and 20th Street in 1917. He proudly named the shop Del Prete and Sons Caserta Pastry, after the city he came from in Italy. In Brooklyn, on October 23rd of 1916, Luigi and Antoinette welcomed their first son and third child, Fred Neal Del Prete, my grandfather and the man in most of the pictures below. My great-grandparents had a total of 7 children, all of whom worked in their parents' pastry shop.

After my grandfather met and married my grandmother, Anna Grace Parente, in 1942, he was enlisted in the Army and spent the majority of WWII at Camp Patrick Henry in Virginia as the Army chef, cooking for troops before they departed for war in Europe. Post WWII, my grandfather returned to Brooklyn with Anna and their first child, daughter Antoinette Del Prete, my aunt. In 1947 my mother, Lydia Del Prete, was born. A year later they moved to Bridgeport, CT and opened Del Prete Italian Pastry.

Years later, after my father Richard Krikorian married my mother, he found himself working in the bakery alongside my grandfather, Fred Del Prete. I like to note that Del Prete Italian Pastry shop is still in operation at the same location my grandfather started it in 1948.

After 20 successful years as part owner of Del Prete Italian Pastry, my grandfather in 1968 sold his portion of the bakery to his partner and cousin John Mezzo, and opened Luigi’s Italian Pastry, which was named after his father. I have some fond memories of Luigi’s- one is of me, my brother, and my two cousins sneaking down into the basement to crack open the huge Maraschino cherry jars and eating them until we got caught.

In 1987 my grandfather died at the beginning of my junior year of high school. I felt very close to him and have many lasting memories growing up having him as a grandfather. For most of my childhood a large portrait of him doing his best Marlon Brando as "The Godfather" impersonation hung on our living room wall. And as an homage to my grandfather, I chose to use this image as my logo for Del Prete's Pizzeria.

I like to think my great-grandfather Luigi Del Prete and my grandfather Fred Del Prete would be happy to see that they live on with all the love I put into every pizza I bake at Del Prete's Mobile Pizzeria.