Located on First Street in Aspinwall, a family-owned pizza shop has been cooking pies in the original ovens since 1979 when Bob Cozza first opened the place.
There is nothing fancy about Casa Del Sole, which is part of its charm.
“Our ovens are seasoned,” said Nick Lombardi of O’Hara, who co-owns the business with his brother Mark Lombardi. “There are some people who don’t even know we are back here.”
But there are also a lot of people who do.
The red awning that says Casa Del Sole — meaning house of the sun — gives it away, as does the aroma when you cut through the walkway from Commercial Avenue. You can practically taste the soft dough, the rich homemade sauce and the cheesy goodness.
Nick Lombardi said customers often pop their heads in the door and tell them how good it smells and that they will be back to order a pie.
Stop by any weekend and you will see pretty much a continuous flow of pizzas, hoagies and more food being served piping hot on the shop’s busiest days, according to manager Bill Rice, Nick and Mark Lombardi’s cousin. The place has plenty of memories for Rice and Mark Lombardi — both worked at the shop during their teen years at Fox Chapel Area High School when Cozza was the owner.
He sold the shop to Nick and Mark Lombardi’s parents, Janet and Bill Lombardi, in 2002.
Nick spent his teen years delivering pizzas.
He and his brother took over ownership in early 2020, prior to the pandemic. Nick Lombardi said the shop was set up perfectly at the time for social distancing and to-go orders — Casa Del Sole doesn’t have any indoor seating, though there are a few tables available for outdoor dining during nice weather.
“It is not the fanciest place,” said Nick Lombardi. “We are a traditional pizza place. We love it this way because it’s about continuing the tradition we learned from our parents when they were the owners who continued the tradition founded by Bob Cozza, who still at times stops by to say hi.”
It’s about using the same recipes that customers love, recipes that are inspired by the Italian heritage of the Lombardi and Cozza families, Nick Lombardi said.
For instance, the Calabrese specialty white pizza is made with roasted garlic sauce, a mozzarella and provolone cheese blend, spinach, artichokes, feta cheese and is sprinkled with oregano and Parmesan. Another specialty white pizza option is the Philly cheesesteak with roasted garlic sauce, mushrooms, a mozzarella and provolone cheese blend, steak, onions and green peppers.
Specialty red sauce pizzas include the Italian deluxe, meat lovers, Hawaiian, The Godfather, veggie lover, spicy sriracha chicken and Margherita.
There are four ranch specialty pizzas.
Eight-cut specialty pizzas are $20. Traditional and white pizzas come in 8-cut, 10-cut and 12-cut sizes. An 8-cut hand-tossed traditional cheese pizza is $14.90.
There is a gluten-free pizza option.
Pepperoni is the No. 1 seller.
“I think pepperoni is a top seller because it’s a pizza that is ingrained in everyone’s mind,” said Rice, of Shaler. “We have lots of other toppings, which is what makes pizza something for everyone because you can get what you like on it.”
There are 25 toppings such as the aforementioned pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, chicken, steak, salami and capicola, several vegetable choices, pineapple and even French fries.
“Pizza is a food that appeals to everyone,” Nick Lombardi said. “It is hard not to like pizza.”
If you don’t want pie, there are calzones, boneless wings, oven-baked hoagies, including the Italian, salads and appetizers of breadsticks, spinach or sausage poppers and several French fry options from cajun to garlic Parmesan.
Bottles of homemade dressings of Italian and ranch are available for sale.
When you walk in, one of the first things you see is a miniature Italian pizza chef figurine holding a pizza sitting on the high counter. It was a gift from one of the customers, which is the rapport developed with many of them, Nick Lombardi said.
The community is wonderful, he said, and that is a big reason he and his brother are willing to help local sports teams. They sponsor a team every year for Aspinwall Tee Ball and donate to the Fox Chapel Area High School football team. The shop also partners with Ron Esser, the owner of Moondog’s music venue in Blawnox, to support Band Together Pittsburgh, a non-profit that creates music with people on the autism spectrum.
They deliver pizzas monthly to the open mic night, said Esser, who grew up in Aspinwall. He has known the Lombardi family his entire life. He was a fireman stationed at the firehouse next door and said they would order pizza nearly every day because it was and is “the” place to get a pie.
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“And it still is,” said Esser. “The Lombardi family is such a great family and their pizza is really, really, good, too.”
It is important to give back to the neighborhood, said Nick Lombardi, who recalled all the memories he has of being in the shop as a youngster and wants to create those memories for customers. He said any time he visits a new pizza shop he orders an Italian hoagie and a cheese pizza.
“That is the best way to taste the dough, sauce and cheese,” Nick Lombardi said. “That is the heart of the pizza. Don’t overload it with too many other flavors. What is great about pizza is the pizza is a canvas. You can enjoy it without any toppings or you can design it however you want. There is nothing better than a slice of fresh slice right out of the oven.”
Casa Del Sole is located at 222 First Street, Aspinwall.
Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Delivery is available in the area.
Details: 412-784-8178