For Theo Alano, Lucali in Brooklyn has long been a favorite hangout for a slice of owner Mark Iacono’s famous pizza. Little did he know that it would save his life one day.
Alano was facing end-stage kidney failure and, although dialysis treatments bought him some precious time, his prospects looked bleak by December 2023. He desperately needed a new kidney, but the wait can be as long as 10 years—and Alano couldn’t wait anywhere near that long.
That’s when Iacono stepped in. The celebrated pizzaiolo shared a post about his customer’s search for a kidney donor with his 249,000-plus followers on Instagram—and, before long, a miracle unfolded.
Related: Lucali’s Mark Iacono is starting to realize he’s a great pizza maker
At the age of 52, Alano had survived a severe bout of COVID-19 in May 2022, but his health kept worsening, the New York Post reported. At one point in early 2023, he had to be rushed to the emergency room, and doctors believed he had one hour to live. Dialysis treatment, however, prolonged his life. Even so, the need for a kidney donor was urgent, and the odds were against him.
“There were quite a few times” when his situation felt hopeless, Alano told Good Morning America recently. “Part of why I’ve been wanting to fight to get this kidney was—I’m getting a little emotional about it every time I tell the story—but I had so many people rallying behind me that it wasn’t even just for myself. I really wanted to do it for everyone around me who put [in] all this effort to try to save my life.”
Alano had been using social media to find a donor, even getting shares from actress Jessica Alba, whom he’d met through a mutual friend.
But it was Iacono’s December 2023 Instagram post—which has apparently since been removed—that made the difference. Within 24 hours, Rusty Rastello, an Upper West Side sommelier and a Lucali fan, saw the post.
“First, I thought about my uncle, who was like a father to me growing up,” Rastello recalled to Good Morning America. “And he actually had donated a kidney to his brother. And then I had this idea about myself, that if I was faced with the idea of a burning building, that I would run inside to help save somebody.”
Rastello did some research. Donating a kidney can be risky to the donor. “The reality is, it’s really stupid, and you could potentially lose your own life trying to help somebody. But, then, [it] has a really great success rate, really great survival rate—why wouldn’t I do this?”
That led to a thoughtful discussion with his fiancée. “She told me that if I asked my doctor, they would advise me to save my kidney for somebody that I love,” Rastello recalled in the GMA interview. “But if everyone did that, then no one would get help. So I reached out to Theo and just said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if I can qualify, but I just want to let you know that there’s someone out there that’s…throwing their name in the hat for you.'”
After a round of tests, doctors concluded that Rastello’s kidney was a perfect match for Alano. “And, then, when I got the news from Rusty, I actually remember I collapsed on the street,” Alano said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
The surgery, conducted in early August 2024, was a success. When Rastello learned that, he told the New York Post, “I just started crying. I still don’t even know what that emotion was—it was somewhere between relief and excitement. We had become friends at this point, and [I felt] an immense amount of gratitude that we both came through it. When I saw him, light had come to his eyes, color to his face. It was remarkable how quickly he recovered.”
The two men got together over a pie last month at Lucali and reunited again this month for the GMA appearance.
“There are two things good that come out of here: my pizza and this guy,” Iacono said, referring to Rastello, in the GMA interview. “It’s pretty amazing what he did. It’s also nice to see something good come out of social media.”
Founded in Brooklyn in 2006, Lucali has attracted its share of celebrities over the years, including a visit by Paul McCartney last November, as well as artists and actors like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Jay Z, Mark Wahlberg and Henry Winkler. Iacono has said the celebrities have to wait in line like everyone else—the pizzeria, after all, is equally famous with locals who are regulars.
Related: Making pizza with The Fonz: Henry Winkler learns tricks of the trade at Lucali
Yet Iacono had no prior restaurant experience when he opened the pizzeria as a slice joint. “I really don’t know the exact science of the pizza,” Iacono once admitted to Forbes. “I know what I like, and that’s what I created. Somehow, I got lucky.”
Over time, though, the acclaimed yet humble pizzaiolo has started to realize it’s more than just luck. “You know, I stand back there, and I wonder, ‘Why? Why is it like this?’” he told Interview in late 2022. “And I kept questioning, ‘Is my pizza really that good?’ And here we are 16, 17 years in, and I’m starting to think that maybe the pizza is that good.”
Rastello and Alano certainly agree. “Your talent and your pizza has created a platform, and I think there’s a responsibility that comes with that,” Rastello told Iacono in the GMA interview. “And I think that you met the moment and used your platform to help save Theo’s life.”
