Vesuvio’s Restaurant and Pizzeria, family owned and established in 1956

Our Restaurant: Vesuvio's Restaurant and Pizzeria

History of Vesuvio's

In an area where restaurants come and go, Vesuvio's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria has been a Santa Clara County landmark for the past 50 years. As one of the first pizza houses in Santa Clara County, Vesuvio's opened for business on El Camino among acres of orchards in 1956. Vesuvio quickly established itself as on of the most popular pizza parlors for families in the Santa Clara area and was typically packed after high schools football and Little League games. Students would stay for hours eating pizza, hanging out, and playing "doo wop", rock and roll, and Frank Sinatra on the jukebox. Another common occurrence was the square dancers, who would come in, rearrange the tables to dance, drink beer and eat until 2:00am.

In the late 1950s Vesuvio virtually defined pizza for the Santa Clara Valley. A good number of Italian immigrants began their careers at Vesuvio before opening their own Italian restaurants in the area. As Americans' interest in pizza grew, Vesuvio added elements of New York style pizza to its menu. Our pizza today is influenced by a combination of our original Italian Neapolitan recipe and the New York style. Vesuvio's Unique Italian Catering services reflects the growing interest in Americans exploring traditional cultural foods and provides authentic Neapolitan pizzas once again.

Vesuvio history

A family-oriented restaurant from the beginning, Vesuvio is still owned by Mamie Russo, one of the founding owners, as well as by her nephew Michael Del Monaco. Today, Vesuvio draws customers from all walks of life, including grandparents who remember frequenting Vesuvio as children.