By Charlie Pogacar
How many people have opened pizzerias on three different continents? In that way, and in many others, Stefano Carniato is a trailblazer in the industry.
The Italian pizzaiolo’s journey began when he opened Piola in Treviso, Italy, in 1986 alongside his brother, Dante. The pizzeria provided an upscale, dine-in pizzeria experience, with food fresh from the farm they owned in Treviso. It made a name for itself with thin-crust pies that Carniato had learned to cook with a friend in Naples, topped with ingredients that pushed the envelope for that era.
“In Italy, at the time, there were five or six pizzas [sold at most pizzerias],” Carniato said. “It would be a Margherita, a Marinara, Prosciutto [and] Salami, a Diavola, and that’s it. So we started to bring the pizza with arugula, fresh cherry tomatoes… so it was innovation [that put us on the map]. And with the innovation, the music was a little high, the servers were young and hip. It was a hip place.”
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International Expansion
In 1982, the Carniato brothers brought Piola to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then Sao Paolo, Brazil, in 1984. Riding the wave of success, Piola’s next iteration was in Miami—the brand’s first entry into the U.S. market.
“It was the American dream,” Carniato said. “My generation… we listened to American music. We watched American movies, we wanted to have American cars. For us, that was the dream.”
If Carniato was seeking an American experience, he was bringing a distinctly Italian experience with him to the U.S. Though Italian-American pizzerias were a dime a dozen by the late 1990s, Carniato’s upscale, authentic Italian pizza was something fresh and new, especially in a city like Miami. Because of this, Carniato had to retrofit his pizza to appeal to a new demographic of consumers. While his pizza was still unlike the New York-style pies the average American had experience with, he was meeting the consumer halfway by using terms that would be familiar.

Carniato received some key advice in that respect. A food vendor told him that to be successful in the U.S., he should not be preachy or condescending. The advice included tidbits like “don’t tell them you cannot put ketchup on pizza,” Carniato said. “He essentially told me, ‘You aren’t here to be a teacher. Serve them the food you need to.’” In other words, give American customers what they want.
“To make what I made 30 years ago is a trend today,” Carniato said. “The pizza market [in the U.S.] is completely different than it was 30 years ago, and [for the] better. In my opinion, the American people have [a more discerning] palette today than they did 30 years ago. They know more about food and are more ready for a new experience.”
Franchising Piola
Piola’s track record of success speaks for itself. The brand’s U.S. footprint has expanded to eight locations in South Florida, with two additional locations in the Houston metro area. To help fuel growth, Carniato turned to franchising. He felt it was too challenging for him to try to oversee multiple locations in various markets. Instead, he sought out operators who were willing to bring Piola to their community and pour their own sweat equity into growing the business.
“Franchising is good when your energy doesn’t arrive [the way it used to],” Carniato said. “Ten years ago, I touched my restaurants every day. Today, unfortunately, the energy [level] is different. You have to have a lot of passion and energy to do everything with a lot of pleasure. The mindset is totally different these days. You want to spend more time with your family or spend time in Brazil where I have a lot of friends.”
Carniato has also enjoyed teaching his franchisees the ropes of how to make a restaurant successful. Much of that education, Carniato said, is centered around instilling passion in the franchisee.
“It’s helping somebody follow you and to treat this like a religion,” Carniato said. “Because business is a religion: You have to always work at it—Saturday, Sunday, the holidays. It’s all week. It’s difficult to keep the family together because you’re almost never there. You need to really believe in what you’re doing.”
Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli
As someone who enjoys the process of training team members and franchisees, Carniato, with the help of some partners, recently opened a Miami campus for Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli, the pizza masterclass academy that was founded in Venice, Italy, in 1988. It’s yet another way for Carniato to forge his legacy in the industry—one that has only grown since he came to the U.S. in the 1990s.
The campus opened on Monday, January 20, and has already hosted its first classes. Students sign up for courses that include topics like practical training, fundamental pizza theory, the history of Italian pizza and the chemistry of Italian doughs. They also learn dough-stretching techniques, baking techniques as well as an overview of pizza ovens and mixers. Each course is overseen by a master pizzaioli.

“We hope that Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli will empower Miami job seekers in terms of eligibility for kitchen jobs in Miami pizzerias and restaurants by providing them with instruction in pizza baking and foodservice fundamentals,” Carniato said, via press release, to announce the grand opening of the Miami campus. “The goal is to provide budding pizzaioli in South Florida with the skills needed to qualify for entry-level pizza baking jobs—and perhaps eventually go on to open their own pizzerias.”
As Carniato said, the industry has changed a lot in 30 years. The pandemic-induced pizza boom has stretched American pizza to heights even he had difficulty picturing as little as five years ago. The new campus, then, is a way to teach the new generation the true fundamentals of pizza making—And who would know those better than Carniato himself?
“I hope one day the work of the pizzaioli gets to be more appreciated,” Carniato said. “The pizza market is growing and growing. Before, maybe you could go to New York, Chicago, Miami, or Boston [to get the authentic experience]. Now you can go to a minor city in the U.S. and you will find gourmet pizza. It’s totally changed, and I think it means people are ready to bring pizza to another level.”